Middle School Basketball Player Dies During Game
DECATUR, Ga. -- An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death of a 14-year old middle school basketball player who collapsed and died during a game on Saturday.
Joshua Thomas died while playing for the Shamrock Middle School team. Some witnesses said that Thomas appeared to have some kind of seizure during the game at Bethune Middle School. He then slumped to the floor and never regained consciousness.
A nurse who was at the game rushed on to the court and performed CPR in an effort to get Thomas breathing again. But her efforts were unsuccessful. Emergency medical technicians called and rushed the boy to DeKalb Medical Center where he died.
Two witnesses told WSB-TV Channel 2 that it took more than 30 minutes for paramedics to get to the school.
Christie Windle, the nurse who performed CPR, complained that there was no defibrillator at the school. She says one of the devices might have helped save Thomas' life.
The teen's mother and two sisters were in the crowd when he collapsed.
Another article said:
With his mother watching the basketball game, 14-year-old Joshua Thomas took a fall and banged his head on the floor at Bethune Middle School in Decatur on Saturday.
The Shamrock Middle School player was knocked unconscious and stopped breathing. Several medical professionals at the game started CPR on the boy, said DeKalb County schools spokesman Dale Davis.
Davis said Joshua started breathing again, but his breathing stopped once he reached DeKalb medical facility at Hillandale.
He was pronounced dead about 1:30 p.m.
"It was a routine basketball game, and the child fell as a result of participating in it," Davis said.
He said he did not know whether the boy just collapsed or fell due to a foul during the game. "He didn't recover."
The cause of death was unknown Sunday night and school officials hope to learn more pending a report by the medical examiner's office, Davis said.
The boy's death has shocked and alarmed Shamrock Middle School parents and children.
Shanda Maiolo, a member of the school's parent-teacher association, said her son, Lake, turned pale when he saw the report on the news.
He said he couldn't believe it. He had just seen Joshua at the school's basketball pep rally last week. He was a nice kid, the child told his mother.
"He's kind of freaked out about it," said Shanda Maiolo. "There's been a lot of talk in the neighborhood, and a lot of concern."
The tragedy was even more unsettling, she said, because the child died during a sport she doesn't consider very physical. It made her more worried about her 13-year-old son playing soccer.
She said she is going to review the rules and safety of the game with her son. "It's just frightening," she said.
She said she expects parents at the school will reach out to the Thomas family and help them in any way possible.
Maiolo said she worries about the reaction of children at the school today, as they come in and hear the news of their schoolmate's death.
Extra school counselors will be on hand, officials said.
"It's just heartbreaking," Maiolo said.
"He's a year older than my son."