University of Richmond freshman Donnie Lindsey Jr. of Annandale, Va., drowned after jumping into Westhampton Lake in the middle of campus with other freshmen Sunday night.
Lindsey, a Richmond Spiders football player, and other students were walking back from an induction ceremony called Freshman Investiture.
The yearly tradition for freshman males "orients them to the university," said Sgt. Khris Molchan of the campus police.
"A lot of students jumped into the lake from a walkway which is about eight feet up from the lake," Molchan said.
After coming back out of the lake, "someone yelled" when they noticed that Lindsey had not come back up, he said.
Police and students then jumped into the lake to search for Lindsey. A student found him floating in the water and "brought him to the shore," Molchan said.
He said students and police started CPR on Lindsey and he was rushed to St. Mary's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead in the emergency room.
Students have jumped into the man-made lake before, he added, but noted that "the lake is strictly for ambiance" and is not designed for swimming.
Molchan said this is the first time someone died from jumping into the lake. The drowning is being investigated as an accident.
"Eighty people were ejected from the game for various reasons," Virginia Tech Police Sergeant J.A. Brotherton said.
"Some were underage, most were drunk in public," Brotherton said. "Eight of those 35 were involved in fights and in scuffles."
He estimated that 65 to 70 percent of the people at the game who were arrested were students.
Brotherton said the Clemson game, which Virginia Tech won 31-11, generated the most arrests during a home game this football season.
He said that the 8 p.m. starting time of the game probably contributed to the high number of arrests, since people have more time to drink than before early games.
"Early games are never a problem for traffic or for alcohol as a rule," he said. "There's always a minimum of 15 arrests, which is commonplace even in early games."
"Each game we have now is sold out with 50,000 or 60,000 people in the stadium and in every crowd there are at least 15 troublemakers," Brotherton said.
Virginia Tech has a "zero tolerance" policy at its home football games, which means that no alcohol consumption is allowed inside the stadium.
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