Student said drink was spiked

Sarah Midden, a sophomore English literature major, ended up in the hands of UCF Health Services after a night out.

"I remember feeling like I was going to die,"  Midden said.

On Tuesday, Sept. 1, Midden went to Devaney's Too, a local sports bar, with her boyfriend and his roommate.

While she was there, she had a few drinks from the bar. Around midnight someone slipped something into her drink and she blacked out, Midden said.

"I took a sip and that's the last thing I remember," Midden said.

Her boyfriend, who asked to remain anonymous, said that she began acting as if she were very intoxicated.

"I didn't think she'd had that much to drink," he said. "But she'd had liquor, so I thought that was why."

Midden's boyfriend said that she began stumbling around so much she needed to be carried to the car.

When he took her home she immediately began vomiting, he said.

He said he thought she would be able to get the alcohol out of her system, but instead she threw up for two and a half hours.

"She was in a tremendous amount of pain," he said. "It was really tough to watch."

Midden's boyfriend said he was unable to find an open walk-in clinic.

"The whole time she was just really out of it," he said. "She didn't know what was going on."

 He tried bringing her to the UCF Health Center at about 4:30 a.m. but that was closed as well.

"She seemed like she was starting to come out of it at that point," he said. "She kept asking why we were on campus."

Midden's boyfriend brought her back home to sleep. He said that he awoke around 7 a.m. to the sound of her wheezing and hiccupping in her sleep. He woke her up and she began acting very strangely, he said.

Midden's boyfriend said she began undressing and walking around. She walked out of his room, and he found her outside near the street.

He said he brought her back inside, and she acted as if she were looking for something.

"I asked her what was wrong," he said, "and she said 'you shouldn't be angry with me; you should be angry with him.' I asked 'Who?' and she said, 'The guy with the wings.' So that's when I really started to panic. I mean, she was hallucinating and talking about some angel in the room."

He brought her back to the UCF clinic, where she regained composure.

Midden said a nurse and doctor treated her there. She was not tested to see what drug she had consumed because they said that by then it would have been out of her system, Midden said.

The UCF Health Center staff referred Midden to Victim Services where she received additional counseling.

A representative of Devaney's Too, who chose not to give his name, declined to comment about the incident. However, he said he regularly sees women leave drinks and purses unattended, which he advised against. He also advised not accepting drinks from anyone other than a bartender.

Michelle Quinones, an advocate at Victim Services, said all people react to drugs differently, but that there are some general signs.

"If someone feels more drunk than they should for the amount of alcohol they have consumed, blacks out or can't remember anything after having had a drink or begins to act out of character, they may have been drugged," Quinones said in an e-mail interview. "If they or their friends notice anything wrong, it is important to seek medical attention right away as certain drugs can leave their system within a matter of hours."

Midden said she was always careful about not leaving her drink unattended, but this experience has made her paranoid about going out at all. She has stopped consuming alcoholic beverages since the incident. She is even apprehensive about accepting a glass of water from someone.

"You never know what could have happened," she said.

Midden said at first she was embarrassed for acting the way she did that night but realizes that it was not her fault.

She said she is angry that she will never know who drugged her drink but is grateful nothing worse happened.

Quinones said someone who feels uncomfortable in their environment should speak up or tell their friends so they can help remove them from the situation.

"Removing the potentially drugged victim from the scene is important to reduce the possibility of further victimization," Quinones said. "Friends should be wary of other people, including acquaintances or strangers, offering to provide assistance or transportation to the victim as it could be the person who drugged the beverage. Most incidents of sexual violence in college are perpetrated by acquaintances."

Midden, who is speaking out about the incident to create awareness, had some advice as well: always watch the bartender make the drink, do not leave a drink unattended and go out with someone who can take care of you just in case.

"Everyone says, 'This isn't going to happen to me,'" Midden said. "I was there with two big guys and it still happened. I know so many girls who just go out to get wasted," she continued. "They're easy targets."