A 17-year-old girl who had attended Live Oak High
’s Senior Ball was seriously injured early Sunday morning when
she fell from a third-floor balcony at a Monterey hotel. She landed
on a sidewalk near a pool.
A 17-year-old girl who had attended Live Oak High’s Senior Ball was seriously injured early Sunday morning when she fell from a third-floor balcony at a Monterey hotel. She landed on a sidewalk near a pool.
Carly Melert, a senior in an independent studies program at Live Oak High School, was recovering Monday night after her second surgery in as many days.
Doctors at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula operated Monday afternoon to repair a broken and dislocated wrist. She also was treated for a compound and complex fracture of a leg in surgery early Sunday.
Carly was heavily sedated Monday night, said her father, John Melert.
Melert said his daughter told family members she did not remember what caused the fall. He praised the care of doctors and hospital staff.
The girl was on track to graduate this June. She worked as a cashier at a Sweet Tomatoes restaurant near her San Jose home.
The fall occurred at about 1:30am Monday. Repeated calls to the hotel weren’t returned Monday and authorities said they were uncertain about how and why the girl fell.
At least three young people were arrested during the party that apparently was a spinoff from a Live Oak’s Senior Ball at Club Del Monte at the Naval Postgraduate School.
Students from as many as five Santa Clara County high schools were reportedly staying at the resort. After-prom parties were going on in many rooms, in hallways and in open areas.
“This year, everybody pretty much stayed in their rooms,” said Elicia Perkins, a Live Oak senior, ASB social chairperson and cheerleader. “My room was on the first floor, further away from the partying, and it wasn’t as loud. I stayed with the group that was in my room. I know there was drinking going on, but I didn’t see it.”
Live Oak High has been holding its annual prom at Club Del Monte for the past five years, said Michael Martin, public affairs officer for the Naval Postgraduate School. The navy facility rents out the hall for dances and other events. The graduate school is under relatively tight military security, so students attending the prom generally are bused to the facility and are accompanied by chaperones, Murphy said.
Live Oak did not provide buses, which one parent said angered her.
“I really don’t understand why they don’t have a charter bus to drive the students down,” Cynthia Burnham, a Live Oak senior’s parent, said Monday. “They know the kids will be driving back after midnight. I wasn’t worried about drinking, but about the kids being tired and not experienced in driving that late and that distance. (The ball) was a good experience, but I’m glad it’s over. I was very concerned about the driving.”
Although the distance and late-night driving are often reasons parents rent hotel rooms for their teens, Live Oak ASB Director Norm Dow said Monday that the school does not sanction nor encourage students staying the night.
“Good grief, no,” he said Monday. “That is a parental decision. When parents asked me about hotels, I told them that was their business.”
There were 30 chaperones and seven security guards at the ball, Dow said. But once the ball is over, the school is not responsible for the students.
“I would think the school would want to do something,” Burnham said. “Even if they are not technically responsible, you would think they could be liable for a lawsuit if something happened.”
Monterey police were dispatched to the hotel three times over the long night to quell the boisterous party atmosphere, said Sgt. Jeff Jackson.
Monterey fire Division Chief Rick Rodewal was alarmed by what he encountered.
“I was very surprised by the amount of juveniles that were there,” Rodewald said. “Many kids, juveniles, were drinking and partying with zero supervision.”
The final police dispatch to the hotel came around 4 a.m., when officers arrested two San Martin men, Kevin Wheeler and Christopher Reyes, both 20, who allegedly destroyed a $3,200 vending machine.
The Monterey Herald contributed to this story.
Marilyn Dubil covers education and law enforcement for The Times. She can be reached by e-mail at md****@*************es.com or phoning (408) 779-4106, ext. 202
