Frustrated by Lee County schools' response to the heatstroke death last summer of Riverdale High football player Zachary Martin-Polsenberg, and trying, it says, to prevent more such deaths, the late boy's family has taken steps to sue the school and district.
Martin-Polsenberg's family, in letters from its attorney to the Lee County School District dated March 7 and April 5, allege negligent supervision by Riverdale coaches and staff for the incident on June 29, 2017.
The letters also allege “liability for the incident and post-incident care, or lack thereof.”
The notices of intent to sue and/or claim damages are required by state law before suing government agencies, such as the school district. They name the Lee County School Board, school district and Riverdale High but no other parties.
Martin-Polsenberg, a 16-year-old junior offensive lineman, collapsed at the end of practice June 29 and was removed from life support at a Miami hospital 11 days later.
The letters are not a guarantee that a lawsuit will happen, said the family's attorney, Ty Roland, and Martin-Polsenberg's mother, Laurie Martin Giordano.
"Who knows what’s going to happen from their side," Martin Giordano said. It "will sort of dictate what we do."
The district declined to comment, citing pending litigation.
The letters don't specify amounts for damages. Florida law limits claims against governing agencies to $300,000, but mechanisms exist to pursue more.
The legal step is being taken at the same time that Martin-Polsenberg's family is pushing the FHSAA to enact greater safety measures and training before this summer.
Last week a Texas A&M offensive lineman suffered temporary organ failure but survived a severe case of heatstroke in a case similar to what killed Martin-Polsenberg.
“My goal in all of this is, safety measures need to be implemented,” Martin Giordano said. “I think they should have been implemented when the accident happened. But now is better than later, or never. It’s something that they need to do.”
Roland and Martin Giordano declined to offer new specifics supporting the negligence claims.
The family has previously said that doctors at Golisano Children’s Hospital told them Martin-Polsenberg’s core temperature was at 107 for more than an hour before they could bring it down.
Heatstroke, the most severe heat illness, begins at 104 degrees.
A Lee County Sheriff’s Office investigation into the incident also indicates that 15-30 minutes may have elapsed between when Martin-Polsenberg first showed clear signs of a medical event and when 911 was called.
One Riverdale player told investigators that some players were denied water during the practice, held indoors and outdoors from 7 a.m. until after 10 a.m.
Martin Giordano, who was on campus to pick up her son, described to investigators a chaotic scene after being summoned to the practice field by other players.
Players and coaches were dousing Martin-Polsenberg with water while holding him in a seated position and trying to give him water to drink, Martin Giordano told investigators.
This was even though Martin-Polsenberg — who was 6-foot-4, weighed more than 300 pounds and was known for carrying a gallon water jug at all times to keep hydrated — was moaning incoherently and had already vomited, she said.
“No one knew what to do,” she told The News-Press.
Martin Giordano told investigators that Riverdale head coach James Delgado asked her if she wanted coaches to call 911 once she arrived at the field.
"Rather than take the chance, we want to make sure he gets an IV and gets rehyrdrated," Delgado said in the 911 call. “But he’s doing fine. He is responsive. But he’s not himself.”
The Sheriff's Office found no criminal wrongdoing.
The medical examiner ruled the cause of death “complications from heat stroke.”
The school district, meanwhile, did not conduct its own investigation despite saying it would do so following the completion of the criminal investigation in October.
Rather, the district’s Office of Professional Standards and Equity relied on the sheriff’s criminal investigation to determine that there “was no employee misconduct," according to communications coordinator Melissa Mickey.
The ruling was made without a report being produced by district personnel, Mickey said.
The district also has said no changes in staffing or safety measures were made following Martin-Polsenberg’s death.
“It’s shocking to me,” Roland said. “You had a kid die. I don’t know how you don’t want to find out what happened for the benefit of every other child out there. We’re about to get into another football season again. You have a duty as a school district and as a school board to understand what happened and to prevent it from happening again.”
The Korey Stringer Institute, named for the former NFL offensive lineman who died in 2001 of what is called exertional heatstroke, says the malady is “100 percent survivable” and that the response in the first five to 10 minutes is critical.
Still, heatstroke killed an average of three football players a year at all age levels from 1995 to 2015, according to the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research.
Nearly all of those 61 deaths — 46 in high school, 11 in college, two in youth football and two in professional football — occurred during practice.
And those numbers, for football only, don’t include hospitalizations that didn’t result in death or other heat events that didn’t result in hospitalizations.
Texas A&M offensive lineman Koda Martin fell into distress late at an outdoor practice last week and was found to have a core temperature of 106.
“I'm telling you, Dad, I was dying,” the 6-foot-6, 315-pound junior told his father, according to the Houston Chronicle. “I literally felt everything in my body stopping.”
Martin was immersed in ice water at practice and treated in the ambulance with chilled IV fluids to continue bringing down his temperature, his father said.
He battled kidney failure for several days but is expected to make a full recovery thanks in part to treatment responses widely recommended by sports medicine professionals.
“The science as far as heatstroke points to this 30-minute threshold before irreversible cell damage occurs,” said Robert Sefcik, executive director of the Jacksonville Sports Medicine Program and a member of the FHSAA’s Sports Medicine Advisory Committee.
“That means we’re acting pretty quickly. That all starts with education and having the appropriately trained medical staff on hand.”
Measures the sports medicine advisory committee has recommended the FHSAA mandate include access to ice water tubs — commonplace in athletics for post-practice recovery — within a maximum of five to 10 minutes.
“I’m incredibly grateful,” Martin Giordano said of the Texas A&M incident, “that people were there who knew what to do.”
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