Family of UC Berkeley Football Player Who Died After Training Sues

A University of California at Berkeley football player who collapsed and died following a team workout in February was pushed too hard by the school’s trainers, who failed to recognize and treat medical issues stemming from a preexisting condition, an attorney for the student’s family argued today.

Attorney Robert Glassman filed a wrongful death complaint in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland today against the University of California Board of Regents on behalf of the family of Ted Agu, 21.

Related article: UC Berkeley: Football Player Ted Agu Collapsed After Training Run

The complaint argues that the athletic trainers at UC Berkeley were “reckless and negligent” and pushed Agu to dangerous levels of exhaustion despite being aware that he had a sickle-cell trait that put him at greater risk than other students. It also links Agu’s death to a similar death of Ereck Plancher, a student at the University of Central Florida, in 2008. The same athletic trainer, Robert Jackson, was overseeing workouts at each school at the time of the death and Plancher also had sickle-cell trait, according to the complaint.

Plancher’s family was awarded a $10 million settlement after his death, but that amount was reduced to $200,000 by an appeals court last year and the case has been appealed to the Florida Supreme Court, according to attorneys in that case. Agu, a defensive lineman, died after a supervised training run with his teammates at about 6 a.m. on Feb. 7.

Team medical personnel noticed he was having trouble about 150 yards from the football stadium, Dr. Casey Batten, the team’s doctor, said days after Agu’s death. He was taken back on a cart where he was initially responsive and hydrating but then collapsed. Medical staff attempted CPR and used a defibrillator on him before he was taken to Alta Bates Medical Center in Berkeley where he died, Batten said. But according to the complaint, Agu had experienced difficulty completing the drill for “a significant period of time” before he was given assistance, including showing signs of exhaustion, dizziness, shortness of breath, loss of balance and other symptoms of extreme fatigue.

Given that he had sickle-cell trait the workout regime was “extremely intense and egregiously inappropriate,” the complaint argued. Agu was pushed beyond exhaustion. UC Berkeley officials said in a statement today that the school’s medical staff reacted promptly when saw Agu showing signs of problems.

The university said that the Alameda County coroner’s bureau found that he died from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, “which suggests there was little anyone could have done to save him.” The university said that it follows all recommended protocols as outlined by the NCAA for students with medical conditions.

“We want to make clear that we are committed to ensuring the care and safety of all our student-athletes, and we have great confidence in our athletic department’s staff’s ability to do so,” UC Berkeley officials said. But the complaint argues that the university was negligent in hiring Jackson as an athletic trainer given he was employed in the same position at UCF when Plancher died. It claims that the university failed to ensure that Jackson knew the proper procedures for dealing with an athlete with sickle-cell trait.

It also alleges that the team’s coach, Damon Harrington, was also not suitably trained for dealing with an athlete with that condition. The family is seeking damages from the UC Board of Regents for emotional distress over the loss of their family member, financial damages from his lost income, medical and other expenses related to his death and other unspecified damages.

—By Bay City News

Photo courtesy of Cal Football