Morgan Hill
– A 17-year-old girl who attended Live Oak High’s Senior Ball
was seriously injured when she fell from a third-floor balcony at a
Monterey hotel, landing on a sidewalk near a pool.
Carly Melert, a senior in an independent studies program at the
high school in Morgan Hill, was recovering Monday night after her
second surgery in as many days.
Morgan Hill – A 17-year-old girl who attended Live Oak High’s Senior Ball was seriously injured when she fell from a third-floor balcony at a Monterey hotel, landing on a sidewalk near a pool.
Carly Melert, a senior in an independent studies program at the high school in Morgan Hill, was recovering Monday night after her second surgery in as many days.
Doctors at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula operated on a compound and complex fracture of a leg Sunday, and repaired a broken and dislocated wrist Monday afternoon.
She was heavily sedated Monday night, said her father, John Melert.
Melert said his daughter – on track to graduate this June – told family members she did not remember what caused the fall. She worked as a cashier at a Sweet Tomatoes restaurant near her San Jose home.
The fall occurred about 1:30am Monday. Repeated calls to the hotel weren’t returned and authorities said they were uncertain about how and why the girl fell.
At least three people were arrested during the party that apparently was a spinoff from 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 hotel, and post-prom parties were going on in many rooms.
Live Oak High has held its annual prom at Club Del Monte for the past five years, said Michael Martin, public affairs officer for the Naval Postgraduate School. The hall is rented out 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 angered one parent.
“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. “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 during the night to quell the boisterous party atmosphere, said Monterey Sgt. Jeff Jackson.
Monterey fire Division Chief Rick Rodewald 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 about 4am, 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.
