Fraternity called 'public nuisance' after Cal student nearly drowns

Berkeley Police: fraternity house off campus a "public nuisance" after UC Berkeley student in critical condition after near drowning

Berkeley Police call off-campus fraternity house a "public nuisance" after 19-year-old Cal student nearly drowns. He is in critical condition. Students who attend fraternity parties at that house and others, say the incident raises safety concerns.

BERKELEY, Calif. - A UC Berkeley student is in critical condition at a local hospital following what is being described as a near drowning shortly on Friday night at a fraternity house off campus on Greek Row.

Berkeley police are investigating. But so far, authorities have not released details of what happened.

Police would only say that they responded to a report  of a 19-year-old male who had possibly drowned.

He was taken to the hospital where he's in critical condition.

Police posted a notice of public nuisance by the front entrance of the fraternity house within 90 minutes of the incident.

It said, in part, "the Berkeley Police Department found that a gathering at the below listed premises caused a public nuisance,"
and "disturbance of the peace, threat to public safety."  

It also said that "if the police respond to another disturbance constituting a nuisance at the above premises within 120 days of this notice, including but not limited to a disturbance later today or tonight, civil penalties will be imposed."

Cal students said they're familiar with fraternity parties, that they take place every weekend and that they have many questions about this incident at Alpha Delta Phi.

The incident happened shortly before 11:30 p.m.

"It's a crazy scene. There were cop cars everywhere, lights flashing, just panic from everyone around. Everyone was wondering what happened," said Cal student Giorgio Sagrati. 

He shared with KTVU the cell phone video he took of the police and fire response.

"When I heard about it, I was worried and that could be someone close, you know. Something so tragic could happen to someone," said Cal student Ayush Ghosh.  

A KTVU crew went to the fraternity house where they saw people inside. 

But no one answered the door.

The fraternity issued a statement which said, in part: "Our priority is the safety and well-being of all members and guests. 
As this remains an active investigation, we are unable to provide additional details at this time.

"How did that happen? Definitely concerned about our safety, the safety of students going to parties.  What's going on? Is our safety really a priority?" questioned Sagrati.  

Some students said they attend fraternity parties regularly, including some who attended parties at that fraternity house.  

They said there are usually students monitoring what's going on.

They now want to know what went wrong at Friday's gathering.

"It really shows the need that we need to do more for people's safety," said Ghosh.

Students said the fraternity is often referred to as Aqua Delta and that it's the only fraternity house on Greek Row with a swimming pool.

Neither police nor school officials have identified the student injured in this incident.

Amber Lee is a reporter with KTVU. Email Amber at Amber.Lee@Fox.com or text/leave a message at 510-599-3922. Follow her on Facebook @AmberKTVU,  Instagram @AmberKTVU  or Twitter @AmberKTVU