A young lawyer died in a freak accident after he fell trying to slide down a bannister at the Brooklyn Museum’s First Saturdays party last week, according to news reports.
Kirkland J. Dawson, 34, lost his balance and fell off a staircase to the ground three stories below on Saturday night. He was taken to New York Presbyterian, where he died the next day, the Daily News reported.
Dawson, a law school graduate of Western Michigan University, worked as a parole officer in Michigan before moving to New York to pursue a legal career.
Brooklyn Museum spokesperson Taylor Maatman said in a statement: “We’re deeply saddened by this tragic accident, and our heartfelt thoughts are with the visitor’s family and friends, and particularly those who were with Mr. Dawson that night.”
His sister, Taylor Dawson, told the paper, "We’re really just hearing word of mouth what happened... No one at the museum has reached out to his mom or me. A detective reached out to my mom and said it was a freak accident." She says they were told "he suffered brain damage and head trauma.”
