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CNN Live At Daybreak

Family of Northwestern University Football Player Charges Negligence in On-Field Death

Aired August 20, 2001 - 08:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: We may soon know what caused a 14- year-old Houston high school football player to collapse and die during a Saturday scrimmage. The autopsy results have not been released, but the Houston area was under a hazardous weather warning for hot conditions when Leonard Carter died. A school official says the boy had a history of asthma, but passed his preseason physical.

Just three weeks earlier, Northwestern University football player Rashidi Wheeler died of bronchial asthma during a practice session in the hot August sun. And now his family is accusing the school of negligence.

We get the details now from Mike Galanos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE GALANOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): August 3 provided Wheeler and his teammates a chance to complete their rigorous conditioning test. They like to get it over with, so they don't have to worry about it when training camp begins.

And the six foot, 212 pound safety seemed fine to the 10 100- and 8 80-yard sprints. But he began to lag behind with the 60-yard intervals. Then during the final phase, 40-yard sprints, he collapsed, walked five yards and collapsed again. Head trainer, Troy Aggelor, and teammate, Kevin Bentley, helped Wheeler off the field.

TROY AGGELOR, NORTHWESTERN TRAINER: As we went to remove him from the field, after he had been down on all fours, we were assisting him walking off the field, no, no, I'd like to try to finish. He was close to finishing and passing, and he sensed that. But I think he also sensed that he was not going to be able to do so.

I had seen him in that situation, you know, over 30 times during his career, and there was nothing that appeared out of the ordinary from his previous experiences and my previous experiences with him in those situations.

GALANOS: When his condition worsened, his last words he told Bentley, "I'm dying K.B."

An emergency crew arrived and tried to save Wheeler's life, all the while the sprints continued. At a press conference Sunday, family attorney, James Montgomery, said this disturbed the Wheeler family most of all.

JAMES MONTGOMERY, WHEELER FAMILY ATTORNEY: Probably the most egregious thing is that after he had laid out with his last breath and the paramedics were trying to resuscitate him, the cameras that had been stationed at each end of the sprints to chronicle the activities of the students panned over to this group. And then when it was time to see how the finish was at the next end of the run, they moved right back over to the runners. And the running continued to go on long after it was clear that this young man was in deep and serious trouble.

GALANOS: One burning question: Was the university prepared for an emergency like this? Running sprints at 4:00 in the afternoon on an August day can be dangerous. The family claims it took over 20 minutes for an ambulance to arrive. One reason for that: The university telephone used for emergencies was inoperable.

MONTGOMERY: You make your claim on the basis that the university provided that space and that opportunity for the strength test. And they should have had some emergency medical equipment on scene for these very events. One year earlier, a dozen people had fallen out doing these same sprints. One almost died. And there was abundant notice on their part of the need for emergency medical care.

GALANOS: Besides safety, was this workout a violation under NCAA rules? Was it a prohibited mandatory workout or a voluntary get- together, which is legal?

Here is the NCAA guidelines for a voluntary workout: Players, not coaches or staff members, have to initiate the workout. No information about the workout is recorded or reported to coaches, and players are not to be punished for refusing to participate or given incentives to participate.

The tape shows staff members with stopwatches and clipboards recording results. And one staff member, who monitored the August 3 workout and who chose not to reveal his name, said there were consequences for nonparticipation.

Northwestern spokesman Alan Cubbage said Sunday that the school would have no further comment until the completion of an internal review.

Meanwhile, the Wheeler family is contemplating a lawsuit as they continue their investigation.

I am Mike Galanos.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NELSON: Northwestern University has not responded to CNN about the latest developments, but it did issue a statement. And that statement says, "The university is continuing its review" of what it calls "this terrible tragedy, including the possibility that supplements may have been a factor." The university goes on to say: "The goal will be to determine the circumstances of that August 3 afternoon, what procedures were in place to respond to an emergency situation and how those procedures were implemented."

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