HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYER DIES FROM HEAT STROKE AT FOOTBALL PRACTICE

I found this in the USA TODAY

LOUISVILLE —The head football coach of Pleasure Ridge Park High School has been charged with reckless homicide in the death of a 15-year-old player who collapsed from heat stroke at practice.

It's the first time a criminal charge has been filed in such a case involving a high school or college coach in the United States, according to sports experts.

David Jason Stinson was indicted Thursday by a Jefferson County grand jury in the death of sophomore lineman Max Gilpin, who collapsed Aug. 20 and died three days later at Kosair Children's Hospital, after his body temperature had reached 107 degrees.

If convicted, Stinson could be sentenced to five years in prison. His attorney, Alex Dathorne, said Stinson was "shocked" by the indictment.

"He will maintain his innocence, and I believe this will be tried in front of a jury where they will hear all of the evidence, including the testimony of Mr. Stinson," Dathorne said.

Jefferson Commonwealth's Attorney Dave Stengel, who made no recommendation to the grand jury, said grand jurors didn't find that Stinson's actions were intentional or malicious.

He said reckless homicide occurs when a "person fails to perceive a risk that a reasonable person in that situation would have seen" and that person's actions cause a death.

Stinson, who continued to direct the football team through the rest of its season, has been "reassigned to non-instructional duties, pending the outcome of the case," Lauren Roberts, spokeswoman for Jefferson County Public Schools, said Thursday.

"He will have no contact with students," Roberts said.

Gilpin and a second player collapsed during the practice in which coaches were alleged to have withheld water and continued to run players on a day when the heat index reached 94 degrees. The second player, a senior, spent two days in the hospital.

Both Jefferson County Public Schools and Louisville Metro Police investigated Gilpin's death after The Courier-Journal reported that bystanders near the practice field heard coaches deny the players water. Other witnesses heard the coaches say they would run the players until someone quit the team.

Dr. Fred Mueller, director of the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research at University of North Carolina, was among several sports experts who said Thursday they had never heard of a high school or college coach facing such an indictment.

Mueller said the indictment of Stinson will be "an eye opener" for coaches who deny water to players.

Stengel said prosecutors were working with Stinson's attorney to have the coach turn himself in Monday, when he is scheduled to be arraigned in Jefferson Circuit Court.

Stengel said that his office did not seek charges against five other coaches on the team, determining they committed no criminal act.

All the coaches, however, have been named in a civil lawsuit filed in September by Gilpin's parents, Michele Crockett and Jeff Gilpin, accusing the coaches of negligence and "reckless disregard."

The parents released a statement through their attorneys Thursday, saying they intend to monitor the prosecution and "expect anyone responsible for Max's death to be held accountable."