A 26-year-old UW-Madison student died recently after being released from UW Hospital for injuries related to a bicycle accident.

The parents of elementary education student Ryan Tripke have hired an attorney regarding their son’s death in relation to his treatment at the hospital. UW Hospital has heard no word of a lawsuit.

Tripke was hospitalized for 24 hours after losing control of his bicycle on the John Nolen Drive bicycle path while returning from the Great Taste of the Midwest beer-tasting festival Saturday, Aug. 12.

After being released from UW Hospital late Sunday night, Tripke returned to his parents’ home in Cottage Grove, Wisc. He died at 12:34 a.m.

As reported by The Capital Times, a coroner’s report listed the cause of death as internal injuries, though the Dane County coroner said autopsy results are “still pending.”
UW-Hospital is looking into the case.

“We are conducting our own review of the case here; the coroner’s report will be crucial to our review,” said Lisa Brunette, spokeswoman for University Hospital.

All other information related to the case is deemed confidential, and the hospital’s report will be released only to immediate family members.

Tripke’s case was unrelated to three other student deaths that occurred this summer.

The coroner has not released results from an autopsy of Shawn Hustost, 23, also a UW student.

Sources close to Hustost say his death from a heroin overdose followed a two-day jailing in connection with his reported peddling of illegal substances. Hustost was found dead in a Blair Street bathroom late in the afternoon.

It is currently suspected that the heroin he overdosed on may have been laced with other substances, which could have contributed to or caused the overdose. This possibility is still under investigation.

Hustost was a mechanical engineering student from Brooklyn Park, Minn.

Other student deaths were two Madison residents, Benjamin Leslie, 24, and Lauren Humer, 22.

Leslie died of natural causes after suffering a cardiac arrhythmia while playing Frisbee, reportedly near the UW’s natatorium. Leslie was a graduate student in nuclear engineering.

Humer had been admitted to the UW business school.

The four student deaths this summer takes UW’s annual death toll up to 10, according to the UW Dean of Student’s office records. This is the highest number in years, and it may feel exaggeratedly so, Dean of Students Alicia Chavez said.

“One thing that makes it feel like there have been lots of students deaths this year in the university community was the three out of 10 that occurred in the residence halls,” she said.
Reports from UW resident hall staff say before last year there had not been a death in the residence halls in 10 years.