The judge upheld the request to play the 911 call made to get help for Stone Foltz as the trial of two men accused of causing his death continued.

Samuel Shamansky, attorney for Jacob Krinn, opposed the state’s intent to play the five-minute 911 recording made when Wade McKenzie called on March 4, 2021, to report Foltz’s condition was continuing to deteriorate.

“It is highly emotional and that is why the state wants to play it,” he said.

Foltz died March 7, 2021, from alcohol intoxication after attending an event at an off-campus house run by Pi Kappa Alpha.

Krinn and Troy Henricksen, both fraternity members, are charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of Foltz, a Bowling Green State University sophomore from Delaware, Ohio.

Monday started the second week of the trial, held in the courtroom of Wood County Common Pleas Judge Joel Kuhlman.

Shamansky said the elements of the alleged crimes had occurred before Foltz left the party and called the contents of the call “irrelevant” and “prejudicial.”

“It’s the emotionally screaming and crying angst … that’s why they seek to introduce it,” Shamansky said.

After listening to the call in chambers, Kuhlman overturned the objections.

Wade McKenzie, of Shelby, was Foltz’s roommate. He said he knew Foltz was attending a party on March 4, and knew his roommate was expected to drink a bottle of alcohol.

McKenzie arrived home from his own fraternity rush at 10:54 p.m. and decided to “babysit” Foltz because he knew about the drinking expectations. He said he found Foltz snoring.

McKenzie said he called Foltz’s girlfriend and two others and after they arrived, he realized Foltz’s face was turning blue. He called 911 at 11:21 p.m.

While the 911 called played, Cory Foltz put his arm around his wife, Shari, while she covered her face with a hand. Stone Foltz’s parents have been in the courtroom everyday since the trial started May 16.

Maddy Borja, Foltz’s girlfriend, told the dispatcher Foltz’s breathing was shallow, then started crying. She said she did not see his chest rising and he was turning blue.

She cried out for McKenzie to start CPR and started screaming “oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.”

McKenzie started doing CPR. The dispatcher counted with him.

As McKenzie started a second set of chest compressions, Bowling Green police arrived.

Neither Shamansky nor Eric Long, attorney for Henricksen, questioned McKenzie.

Makenzy Wells, a nursing student at BGSU, said when she arrived at Foltz’s apartment, EMS was there, and she began trying to track down Foltz’s parents.

She went to the hospital and made contact with Cory Foltz around 1:45 a.m. and told him she would get a fraternity contact number for him. She eventually reached Krinn and by the background sounds, it sounded like he was in a bar and the conversation didn’t last long.

Shamansky pointed out the conversation didn’t last long enough to judge Krinn’s concern.

“I was not judging him, I just wanted to find out what happened,” Wells said, adding that she expected him to step out of the bar for a conversation.

Shamansky pointed out the bar was loud, and she could not confirm Krinn heard her. Wells agreed.

Borja said she and Foltz started dating in January 2021.

“Stone was funny. … He had such a caring heart. He loved his family a lot. He was very ambitious. He knew exactly what he wanted to do,” she said.

On March 4, Borja was celebrating with her sorority when McKenzie called to asked for help with Foltz.

She said she had not been contacted by the fraternity to look after her boyfriend.

“I was praying over him,” Borja said, weeping.

She was able to reach a Ph Kappa Alpha member, who asked her if Foltz was going to be OK. Borja heard someone shout in the background “he’ll get his stomach pumped and he’ll be fine.”

When she told the person on the other end of the call that Foltz was going to die, he hung up, she said.

Brian Gutman, a paramedic with Bowling Green EMS, said the department was dispatched to an unresponsive male and arrived at the apartment six minutes later.

A police officer was doing CPR, which allowed EMS crews to set up mechanical compressions.

Gutman said Foltz was not breathing, had no pulse and was getting zero electric currents to his heart.

They had to suction vomit out of his mouth and lungs to intubate him, Gutman said.

They gave him Narcan and sodium bicarbonate and got a heartbeat back.

Foltz arrived at Wood County Hospital shortly after midnight, said Dr. Ross McDermott, emergency room physician. Foltz had a pulse but was not breathing on his own, McDermott said.

A blood sample was taken at 12:16 a.m. and showed a blood alcohol content of 0.394, he said.

“He was extremely sick,” McDermott said.

McDermott said Foltz had a period of time with no oxygen and he believes he suffered respirator arrest due to high intoxication.

Foltz was transported by air ambulance to Toledo Hospital, where he died March 7.

Neither defense attorney questioned McDermott.

Aaron Lehane, of Loveland, testified that a pledge’s status was elevated if he drank an entire bottle during an initiation party for Pike.

While pledges may be ridiculed for not finishing their bottle, that wears off by the time they are initiated, Long said.

“If you don’t finish the bottle, you’re still going to get in,” Lehane said.

During his Big/Little event in 2019, Lehane was handed a bottle of Old Crow bourbon whiskey and a two-liter bottle of Coke.

He did finish his bottle, but threw up “more times than I can count,” he said.

Lehane was the first witness called Monday. He pledged the fraternity in spring 2019.

Six men, including Lehane, accepted plea deals with the understanding they testify in the trial.

Lehane dropped out of BGSU in early 2021 but continued to live at the Pike house at 318 N. Main St.

On March 4, 2021, Lehane said he was playing video games in the house basement when Foltz stumbled into the room. He gave him water and a trash can before continuing with his game. Krinn, who was Foltz’s Big, showed up and eventually led Foltz up the stairs and out of the house, Lehane said.

At least two pledges were carried out of the house that night, he said.

The tradition was the Big would drop their Little off at their home and stay with them while they slept it off, Lehane said.

After everyone left the house, he walked to a downtown bar, but it was not long until he started getting messages about Foltz.

Police showed up with a search warrant the morning following the party but confiscated no bottles “because we cleaned them up,” Lehane said.

A text between Henricksen, who was not at the party, and Lehane included reference to a fraternity member who got drunk at homecoming and needed his stomach pumped.

Shari Foltz shook her head at this testimony.

“You don’t have to drink a bottle because some hands it to you, right,” Long asked.

“Yes,” Lehane said.

“The bottom line is, if you don’t finish the bottle, you still get in,” Long said.

“Yes,” Lehane replied.