A younger man fell from the railing of the rooftop bar at Harpos Bar in Columbia on Sunday night and was taken to the hospital in serious but stable condition, according to an officer on scene. Columbia Police had the intersection of 10th and Cherry Street outside the bar temporarily blocked off as the response unfolded.
Police were called to the area at 9:05 p.m., and by 9:15 bar patrons had been cleared out of the building. Officers were seen using crime scene tape to keep the area shut down around that time, and the tape was taken down by about 10 p.m. The scene drew attention because it was one of the busier corners in Columbia that night, and the police response quickly changed the flow of people and traffic outside the bar.
A witness told an ABC 17 News reporter that the younger man was sitting on the rooftop railing when he leaned back and fell over. That account leaves one key question unanswered: how he got into that position before the fall. Columbia Police Spokesman Brian McNeil said officers were called to assist in a medical response, which fits the emergency response at the scene but does not explain what led to the fall.
What is clear is that the incident turned into a rapid medical response and a brief but visible police operation outside Harpos Bar in Columbia. Patrons were moved out, the intersection was blocked, and the victim was taken to the hospital. The unanswered part is the cause of the fall, and police have not given further detail beyond the victim’s condition.
