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Two Georgia basketball coaches have been charged with murder in the death of a 16-year-old girl who died as a result of outdoor training in extreme heat.
A Clayton County grand jury recently released an indictment charging Larosa Maria Walker-Asekere and Dwight Broom Palmer with second degree murder, second degree child cruelty, manslaughter and reckless driving.
The charges relate to the death in August 2019 of Imani Bell, an Elite Scholars Academy student who died after members of the women’s basketball team trained outside in temperatures reaching 90 degrees .
Walker-Asekere was the head basketball coach and Palmer was an assistant, according to family lawyer Justin Miller. Both were in practice and had been in charge of the children, he told The Associated Press.
At a press conference on Wednesday, the family and lawyers thanked the district attorney for filing the complaint.
“The incident in question did not have to happen,” Miller said.
Court documents do not list lawyers for Palmer or Walker-Asekere and they could not be reached at the phone numbers listed for them.
In February, Bell’s family filed a wrongful death complaint against the school administrators and said the team was doing a conditioning exercise when Bell collapsed after climbing the steps of the football stadium. The heat index that day for the Jonesboro area, where the school is located, was between 106 and 108 degrees. Jonesboro is approximately 20 miles south of downtown Atlanta.
Bell was rushed to hospital and died of heat-related cardiac arrest and kidney failure, the lawsuit says. The trial is still ongoing.
Chris Stewart, another lawyer for the family, told a press conference in February that there was a heat advisory on practice day. The weather forecast had issued a warning that outdoor activities should be limited due to the heat, he told reporters.
“We are learning to live with the loss of our daughter every day,” the girl’s mother, Dorian Bell, said at the press conference. “Realizing that it’s nothing that will never go away, that it will always be there, I’m missing a piece of myself, but we’re learning to live.… We just want this whole situation closed.”
Bell’s dad said basketball was just one of his daughter’s loves.
“She was in love with life. She was in love with education and just oriented towards music. She was open-minded for anything and everything,” said Eric Bell.
It is not clear if the coaches are still employed at Elite Scholars Academy. The district, Clayton County Public Schools, did not respond to a request for an update on their employment status on Wednesday.
When asked for comment on the trial and charges, a district spokesperson said that “the school system does not comment on personnel matters or ongoing / ongoing litigation” because of the practices and practices. school protocols.
The Associated Press and Daniela Mencos | contributed.
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