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- High school football player Trey Laster collapsed and died while practicing in 103-degree heat.
- A new lawsuit says Laster's football coaches made him run sprints even after he vomited.
- Laster's school district had just received heat stroke training when he died, the complaint says.
The parents of a Mississippi high school football player are suing his school district after he died when coaches made him sprint in extreme heat conditions.
The family of Trey Laster, who was 17 at the time of his death, filed the lawsuit against the Rankin County School District on January 11, court records show. According to the lawsuit, Laster died on August 1, 2022, when the heat index was 103 degrees.
Ben Crump, an attorney for the family, said in a statement that Laster "vomited and then passed out due to the extreme conditions and his coaches' failure to properly adjust the training to the environment and his high-risk factors."
The lawsuit says that school officials received "numerous warnings" that students would be more susceptible to heat stroke during the extreme heat wave that swept the region in August 2022, and were provided "specific instructions on the type of preventative measures that are to be present at each practice and sporting event."
Since it was the first day of football practice, the team had not yet gone through the school district's "two-week acclimatization" protocol, according to the lawsuit.
The Rankin County School district did not immediately return a request for comment from Business Insider.
Laster's size — 6'1" and 328 pounds — made him especially prone to heat exhaustion and put him in the highest category for possible heat stroke, the lawsuit says. Still, Laster's coaches ordered him to do sprints when he arrived at practice during the "hottest part of the day," it states.
Laster vomited, but his coaches told him to keep running. He vomited a second time and passed out, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit further accuses the coaching staff of mishandling Laster's treatment and not providing him with proper medical care after he passed out, instead putting him in a truck bed that would have been "hotter than the surrounding area."
"No child should ever be in danger of losing their life in pursuit of a passion, especially under the supervision and instruction of adults who should know when to stop pushing these young athletes," Crump said in a statement. "Trey's tragic death could have been, and should have been, prevented by those in charge, and shows a troubling lack of adherence to guidelines surrounding heat exhaustion prevention."
The lawsuit says Laster's family has suffered from mental anguish and emotional distress and had to pay Laster's medical expenses. The suit demands a jury trial, attorney's fees, and other monetary damages.
A string of deaths among student-athletes
According to the lawsuit, Laster's cause of death was exertional heat stroke, which it says is the leading cause of preventable death for high school athletes.
Athletes under 30 can also be at risk of cardiac arrest during intense competition. Sudden cardiac arrest is also a leading cause of sport-related death in competitive athletes, according to a 2020 study published by the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
In August, the parents of high schooler Michael Strecker filed a lawsuit against his school district in Maine after he died from a heat stroke during a school-sponsored hiking trip, New Hampshire Public Radio reported.
Also in August, a top high school basketball player died in Pinson, Alabama, after going into cardiac arrest during a school workout. And a high school football player in Scottsdale, Arizona was sidelined in September after going into cardiac arrest during a workout.
LeBron James's son, Bronny James, 19, was also rushed to the ICU in July last year after going into cardiac arrest during a practice at the University of Southern California. James now starts for the Trojans after doctors cleared him to play in November. Another USC player, Vince Iwuchukwu, went into sudden cardiac arrest during a practice in July 2022, according to CNN.
The British Journal of Sports Medicine study also found that Black NCAA Men's Division I basketball players had the highest incidence rate of sudden cardiac arrest and death among athletes 11 to 29 years old.
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Keyontae Johnson collapsed on the court during a game in 2020, when he was 20, while playing for the University of Florida.
Johnson later declined a $5 million insurance payout from the NCAA that would have required him to quit playing college basketball after the incident, according to USA Today. Johnson only saw time in five games at Florida the following two years before transferring to Kansas State, where he became a third-team All-American.