PANAMA CITY BEACH — Police are investigating the circumstances which led to a 62-year-old Spring Break chaperone falling to his death Wednesday morning.
Panama City Beach Police responded to a reported balcony fall about 9:30 am. at the Holiday Inn Resort at 11127 Front Beach Road, where they found Thomas H. Saunders, of Southlake, Texas, motionless on the lobby roof.
Bay County Crime Scene Investigators quickly cordoned off the area and covered the scene with a canopy to block the sightline of visiting guests on the 14 floors above.
“All I could see was the shape of a body under the cloth,” said Andrew Rulesh, visiting from Wisconsin. “But it was pretty disturbing.”
Saunders fell sometime earlier Wednesday morning from a 12th floor balcony facing Front Beach Road, according to Beach Police Capt. Robert Clarkson. Saunders was chaperoning his daughter and four friends, who were asleep in their room when the incident occurred, Clarkson said.
The manner in which Saunders fell and his exact cause of death were unclear Wednesday pending an autopsy, but officers did not suspect foul play.
Friends of Thomas Saunders’ daughter, Rachel Saunders, tweet words of condolence to her Twitter account Wednesday.
“I can’t believe this,” Rachel Saunders replied in a Twitter post. “It doesn’t even feel real.”
Management of the Holiday Inn indicated the incident was accidental and not alcohol-related.
“Apparently this is a medical-related accident, though police are still investigating,” said Julie Hilton, vice president of Hilton Inc. “It was not Spring Break-related and it was not drug- or alcohol-related.”
Hilton said despite efforts of the hotel chains to reduce balcony falls, incidents like this one could not be prevented.
“We don’t know of anything that could’ve been done,” she said. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family, and we’re here to help in any way we can.”
