A lot of coaches go to the extreme when it comes to working out their players in hot weather conditions in the summer, when it comes to basketball and football. This was the case with two basketball coaches in Jonesboro, Georgia.
Larosa Maria Walker-Asekere and Dwight Broom have been charged with second-degree murder, second-degree child cruelty, involuntary manslaughter and reckless conduct, in the death of 16-year-old Imani Bell, according to NBC News. This initially occurred in August 2019, when Bell was subjected to extreme heat conditions outside.
The school was Elite Scholars Academy, as the team practiced outdoors, with temperatures in the 90s. Georgia humidity can be extreme sometimes for sure, as this was tragically the case then as well. Family attorney Justin Miller revealed that Walker-Asekere was the head coach and Palmer was an assistant.
Bell had been doing a conditioning drill and then, collapsed while running on steps of the football stadium. The lawsuit filed by the family stated that Bell had been “experiencing early signs of heat illness and was visibly struggling to physically perform the outdoor conditioning drills.”
“As Imani neared the top of the stadium steps, she suddenly collapsed and lost consciousness due to the extreme heat and humidity.”
Bell ended up passing away at a local hospital, after suffering cardiac arrest and kidney failure. An autopsy conducted by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation added that Bell suffered heatstroke caused by strenuous physical activity in extreme heat. The heat index that day was listed between 101-106 degrees.
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