Friends Say Irish Student Who Survived Berkeley Balcony Collapse Out of Coma, Communicating

By AUTUMN JOHNSON (Patch Staff)

By MARC TORRENCE (Patch National Staff)

A 21-year-old Irish student who was celebrating her birthday when she was seriously injured during the collapse of a balcony at an apartment complex in downtown Berkeley last month, is out of a medically induced coma and starting to communicate with her family, according to the Friends of Aoife Beary Facebook page.

Aoife Beary, who suffered a head injury during the tragic collapse, remains in the hospital at Stanford. Friends and family have started raising funds to help with the costs associated with her recovery. In June, supporters held a candlelight vigil in Dalkey, Ireland in honor of Beary. According to the Irish Times, Beary is from Blackrock in County Dublin.

“This will be a long and slow road to recovery over many months to come,” the Friends of Aoife Beary Facebook said in a status update earlier this month.

Six people, five of them Irish nationals, were killed and seven were wounded when the balcony attached to Unit 405 at the complex collapsed during a crowded party at 12:41 a.m. on June 16.

Killed in the collapse were Olivia Burke, Eoghan Culligan, Niccolai Schuster, Lorcan Miller, and Eimear Walsh, all 21-years-old. Ashley Donohoe, 22, of Rohnert Park, was from the Bay Area and the other five were from Ireland.

Officials from the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office said all six victims died of multiple blunt traumatic injuries consistent with a fall from about 40 feet.

Legislation is being proposed by senators Jerry Hill and Loni Hancock that they say could have prevented the tragedy.

Hill and Hancock will put a bill before the Assembly Business and Professions Committee on Tuesday that will require settlements to be disclosed to regulators.

The company that built the apartment where the collapse took place had paid more than $26.5 million in settlements over the last three years in lawsuits over balconies. But since they were settlements, the state regulatory board that oversees housing developments were never made aware.

Under this legislation, regulators would have been made aware of the high number of settlements and could have launched an investigation that found this particular balcony unsafe.

The Assembly Business and Professions Committee will hear the bill on Tuesday at 9 a.m.

The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office is conducting a conducting a criminal investigation into the balcony collapse at the Library Gardens apartment complex located at 2020 Kittredge St.

Pleasanton-based Segue Construction, the company that built a Berkeley apartment complex in 2007, was recently denied a temporary restraining order to prevent the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office from testing evidence without company representatives being present.

Full coverage of balcony collapse:

• Judge Denies Berkeley Balcony Builder’s Request for Temporary Restraining Order
• DA Says Manslaughter Charges May Result From Berkeley Balcony Probe
• DA O’Malley Will Conduct Criminal Probe of Berkeley Balcony Collapse
• Funerals Held in Ireland as Donations Mount for Families
• City Officials Release Likely Cause of Berkeley Balcony Collapse
• Pleasanton Company Built Balcony That Collapsed in Berkeley
• Memorial Honors Victims of Berkeley Balcony Collapse
• NYT Article on Balcony Collapse Sparks Outrage in Ireland
• Companies That Own, Manage Site of Berkeley Balcony Collapse Offer Condolences
• Balcony Collapse: One American Among the Dead
• Ireland Shocked By ‘Appalling Tragedy’ in Berkeley

Bay City News contributed to this report.

Photo courtesy alexsavidgektvu via Instagram.