A mobile celebration for a college-bound 19-year-old took a dangerous turn when the girl fell from a moving party bus, landed on a Minnesota highway and lived to tweet about it -- but her friends didn't exactly flock to her side after she fell.
Burnsville police told FOX 9 News they fielded multiple calls reporting a body on the side of the road, but they say passengers aboard the party bus the young woman fell from were conflicted about helping their friend and helping themselves avoid underage drinking charges.
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Nearly three dozen recent high school graduates rented the "Flirting Flamingo" party bus, but 19-year-old Katie Brown flirted with danger when she opened an emergency exit window and fell out onto Northbound 35W.
"Typically, when you find out somebody's along the side of the road, you think somebody has been hit by a car," Capt. Eric Gieseke, of the Burnsville Police Department, said.
Stunned drivers immediately called 911, but not a single call came from any of Brown's friends inside the bus. When they finally told the bus driver what had happened, he pulled off at the next exit and called police. By then, more than 20 minutes had passed.
"It's shocking she wasn't hurt more seriously," Gieseke said. "It's great news she wasn't killed."
Some kids did run back to help Brown, but the bus driver said the majority fled the scene because they were worried about getting in trouble. Out of 35 on the bus, only 11 were left after police were called.
Brown was taken to HCMC, where she is listed in satisfactory condition. She even tweeted about the embarrassing event while others scolded her classmates for running away.
"You hope people would apply common sense," Gieseke said. "You hope they'd be looking out for the victim and not themselves."
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