The father of a 14-year-old high school football player who died at a football training camp two years ago has filed a lawsuit against the Indian River County School District. The lawsuit accuses the teen’s coaches of negligence, stating that they ignored the teen’s health condition on the day of his death in August 2014.
The teen had been on a trip with the rest of the Sebastian River High School football team for five days of preseason practices at Camp Blanding in Starke. According to the lawsuit, the teen had thrown up at least three times during and in between practices on the day he died – once during an early morning conditioning session, once when he returned to his barracks, and again during another morning practice. Shortly after returning to the sidelines, the teen passed out.
The coach called 911, but shortly before 11:00 A.M. the teen was pronounced dead at Shands Starke Regional Medical Center. The state Medical Examiner’s Office concluded that the cause of the teen’s death was heatstroke. On that day, temperatures had reached 85 degrees by 11:00 A.M., although with humidity, it felt like 94 degrees.
The teen’s father is represented by Attorney Michael A. Hersh, a Fort Lauderdale wrongful death lawyer at Kelley/Uustal.
