Family Of Joshua Mileto, Killed In Football Practice Accident, To Sue Sachem School District For $15 Million

The family of Joshua Mileto, the 16-year-old from Farmingville who died last month after a log fell on his head during a football drill at Sachem High School East, has filed a legal claim against the Sachem Central School District and the Sachem East Touchdown Club seeking compensation for Mileto's pain, suffering, and death, the Mileto family's attorney, Dankner Milstein P.C., announced Thursday morning.

The Notice of Claim, a pre-requisite to filing a formal lawsuit, seeks $15 million in damages for Mileto's "conscious pain and suffering and fear of impending death as well as other losses caused by his death."

Mileto, a cornerback and wide receiver for the Flaming Arrows, was killed during a preseason strength and conditioning camp on Aug. 10. According to Dankner Milstein, Mileto and four teammates were instructed to raise an approximately 10-foot log weighing about 400 pounds over their heads and onto their shoulders as part of a relay race. During the drill, which is used to train Navy SEALs, the log fell on Mileto's head.

Joshua Mileto

“This unsupervised and improperly conducted conditioning drill should never have been part of the training of these young boys,” said Jay Dankner, a senior partner of Dankner Milstein. “There was no thought or consideration as to what could, and unfortunately did, happen if the boys lost control of the log or it was dropped for any reason. The recreational and sports training experts we have contacted have unanimously said that it was negligence on the part of the school and football team to have allowed these boys to run this drill and even more reckless to not have supervised or controlled it in any way.”

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Mark Wojciechowski, the head coach of the Sachem East football team, and an unnamed assistant coach were reassigned by school district officials after Mileto's death.

The Sachem East Touchdown Club, the nonprofit group that will also be named in the lawsuit, has raised nearly $85,000 for the Mileto family.

The Sachem School District has not returned a request for comment on the lawsuit.