Miami University Senior Danny McClary Back In School After Freak Bar Accident Last Year

BY BLAIR DONOVAN

MIAMI JOURNALISM STUDENT

Over a year after he fell 15 feet at Brick Street bar, Miami University senior Danny McClary says it’s the best worst thing that ever happened to him.

While out for his 21st birthday, McClary leaned over the railing of Skybox to wave to his friends downstairs on Sept. 1, 2015. He leaned too far and flipped over the railing, landing facedown. Mackenzie Eichengreen, who graduated from Miami last May, saw McClary land about three feet away from her. Skybox is a part of the bar at 36 E. High St.

"There was a huge pool of blood around his head and I immediately thought he was dead," said Eichengreen. "It took the employees a second to realize what happened. The lights kind of came on and then they shooed everyone out."

All McClary remembered was being on the Brick Street floor and the paramedics showing up. He told them that he broke his neck in high school and he hoped it didn't happen again.

Paramedics took McClary to McCullough-Hyde Hospital to slow down the bleeding on the cut on his forehead. He was later transferred to University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

He had 13 internal and 43 external stitches on the cut on his forehead, four frontal skull fractures, two occipital fractures, seven broken and chipped teeth, and a severe concussion, he said.

The fall marked McClary’s seventh concussion and he was put in the Traumatic Brain clinic. The hospital told him he was the third youngest patient to be admitted to the clinic. Most of his other concussions were sports-related; he got one while skiing, another from playing backyard football, and one from playing baseball.

The Recovery Process

McClary didn’t have any long-term effects from the fall, but there’s potential danger from having multiple concussions. He stayed in the hospital for 36 hours and immediately started getting dental work done the same day he was released.

“I got the root canal done on my front tooth,” said McClary. “It took about seven or eight weeks before I started getting the crowns put on my teeth. I was toothless for a while.”

McClary missed two weeks of school and a few classes to go home for doctor’s appointments. But, he said he didn’t feel like himself for about three months. Because of his concussion, he had a strong sensitivity to light and had to sit in a dark room for a week. He said light makes the headaches much more painful.

McClary finished first semester last year on the dean’s list. The next semester, he made the president’s list and joined the Masters in Accounting program. He says the accident helped him straighten out his priorities.

“It’s changed me,” said McClary. “I’m more careful when I drink and I’m more concerned about people when they’re drinking and a lot more likely to take care of them or tell them to stop.”

Junior Mason Busch, a member of McClary's fraternity who saw him the night of the accident, thinks he's definitely more grown-up now and said he doesn't go to bars as often.

Safety Measures

Brick Street owners Mark and Will Weisman gave McClary $5,000 to offset some medical expenses. His family decided not to sue, but McClary says his mom is still dealing with the insurance matters from the incident. McClary said he doesn't blame Brick Street.

Senior Tasia Gorski, a bartender and former bouncer at Brick Street, considers Skybox a relatively safe area.

"There's always crowd of people up there now, but they've always been up there so it's not anything out of the norm," said Gorski.

Gorski has seen people lean on the rail, but has never seen anyone close to falling. She considers McClary's fall a freak accident.

Mark Weisman says the rail height meets Oxford property codes. They renovated the bar a few years ago, so they had to make sure they were up to date with all the current building and safety codes. McClary is the only student ever to fall from the rail, which has been up since 1992, Weisman said. He says his father owned the bar before him and never had an accident.

"We're trying to keep an eye on it as best we can, and if we see someone pushing the limit we try to react and say, 'be careful here,'" said Weisman. "At the end of the day, it was a fluke thing."

Dressed in a suit and tie, McClary had just come back from one of the many job interviews he's had so far this semester. --Photo by Blair Donovan