LEWISTON — Local police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the fall of a Bates College student who was listed Thursday in critical condition.

Lt. Michael McGonagle said police are talking to witnesses and visited the stairwell of Parker Hall where Troy J. Pappas, 18, of Eliot fell down a stairwell.

“We want to find out exactly what he was doing at the time of the fall and also what he was doing several hours prior to the fall,” McGonagle said.

A spokeswoman at Central Maine Medical Center said Thursday that Pappas, a first-year student at the college, was listed in critical condition. He was taken to CMMC on Saturday night after the fall, a spokesman for the college said.

McGonagle said his department learned about the incident Monday and launched its investigation Tuesday. In addition to conducting interviews, police are reviewing reports from college staff and emergency medical services workers, he said.

Police decided to investigate due to the seriousness of the fall, McGonagle said.

The college is cooperating fully with police, said Roland Adams, spokesman for the college.

A Bates student who was with Pappas on Saturday night called the Bates office of Security and Campus Safety to report the fall. Bates security officers and Bates Emergency Medical Services responded to the call.

Pappas’ parents were notified after the incident and have been at the hospital since shortly after the incident occurred, Adams said. Extended members of his family also have been at the hospital, along with members of the Bates community.

Pappas is a wide receiver on the Bates football team. His studies at the college are focused on science and math, Adams said.

A graduate of Marshwood High School in South Berwick, Pappas was captain and quarterback of that football team and was a member of that school’s varsity baseball and basketball teams. He earned top honors at Marshwood and was a member of the math team and student government.

cwilliams@sunjournal.com

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