Police: Student killed by hammer throw didn't pay attention

WHEATON, Ill. (AP) Police say a suburban Chicago college student was not paying attention when he was struck and killed by a hammer thrown at a track and field meet last month.

The Chicago Tribune (http://trib.in/2qI6F6v ) reports that Wheaton Police Detective Andrew Unlir says Ethan Roser was watching two other volunteers playing with a stick during warmups of the April 22 event at Wheaton College rather than focusing on the hammer throw event as he had been instructed.

Uhlir says Roser had finished his shift marking where the throws landed but had stayed to cover another volunteer when he was hit by the hammer - a steel wire attached to a heavy metal ball.

The 19-year-old Roser was a freshman transfer from the Cincinnati area.