Police responded to a call yesterday afternoon after reports came in that a UCSB student had fallen off a cliff on the 6500 block of Del Playa Drive.

The incident was reported to the Isla Vista Foot Patrol at 4:14 p.m. According to Hunter Alvarado, a fourth-year political science major, he had been present when his friend Telford Cottam, a fourth-year geology major, slipped off the balcony and onto the beach below. As of press time, police have not confirmed the tumbler’s identity.

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A young male is in stable condition after landing onto the rocks below. In 2009, a UCSB student died after plunging off the cliff.

“He was breathing and conscious,” Alvarado said. “He knew where he was and what had happened, but I do not know if he could move his [limbs].”

Bill Henricks, Senior Deputy with the Sheriff’s Department, confirmed that the man was in stable condition despite several injuries.

“I know he was stable and talking when we arrived,” Henricks said. “He had some lacerations on his [limbs].”

Henricks said it appeared that the man had consumed alcohol prior to falling, which may have explained his fall; the man had purportedly been trying to catch his hat from falling off the cliff when he ended up falling over himself.

“It looks like he was drinking,” Henricks said. “His hat fell off the railing, he went to get it and he fell off the edge down the cliff face onto the rocks…”