A high school student died during football practice on Tuesday (August 22).
Dominick Bess was headed into his freshman year at Mount Saint Michael Academy and had earned a spot on the junior varsity squad. The 14 year old was running with his teammates when he collapsed during the last lap.
“He mentioned that he was a little tired,” Bertram Meade, Dominick’s uncle, said, after talking to Bess’ teammates. “They said one more lap and that was it…. They did everything they could at the school, CPR, everything.”
The emergency crew arrived at the all-boys prep school in the Bronx neighborhood of New York City around 9:30 a.m. and confirmed that Bess had suffered from cardiac arrest. He was treated on campus, and then transferred to the hospital where he died.
Meade suggested that New York’s 79-degree heat and 82% humidity was the culprit. “Today was a really hot day. I was wondering about that,” he said. “It was a humid morning.”
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted his condolences to the Bess family and called for sports practices to be suspended when it’s dangerously hot outside.
The Catholic school released a statement sharing, “heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends, as well as coaches, the team and our student athletes.”
This is at least the third student sports-related incident within the past few months, as 16-year-old Joshua Mileto died after being struck in the head with a log during a drill, Zachary Polsenberg collapsed during a morning workout and slipped into a coma, and Mississippi high school player Ty Rayford was found unresponsive at his home after practice and later died.
