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November 26, 2014
The parents of a deceased Covenant Christian Academy football player are suing the school and its former head football coach Blyght Wunstell, blaming both for an injury that they allege led to the young man’s death.
Caleb Allridge, 16, died on Nov. 1, 2013 after collapsing in the shower after school – just hours before the Lions took the field to play Ridgewood that evening.
An autopsy later ruled Allridge’s cause of death as a massive pulmonary embolus – blood clots in his heart and lungs. Caleb was injured at the time of his death, suffering from a severe injury to his left knee – an ailment he suffered in practice on Oct. 15, 2013, according to court records.
In the lawsuit filed by Wilfred Allridge and Juanika Allridge, the parents allege their son attended a team practice that was “supposed (to) involve light drills and no tackling.”
The suit states that Caleb and the rest of the team’s players practicing “did not have on full protective gear, only helmets and shoulder pads.”
During that practice, Caleb’s parents allege their son was “in fact tackled, causing immediate and severe injury to his left knee,” and that “as a direct and proximate result of the knee injury, Caleb died on November 1 from a massive pulmonary embolus.”
In the court papers, the Allridge family cites negligence on behalf of CCA and Wunstell in the events that occurred at the Oct. 15 practice. They claim that the school’s negligence “includes, but is not limited to the following acts:
• Failing to properly supervise and/or instruct the players
• Failing to have a trainer at the practice
• Failing to ensure that the players were properly protected
• Failing to immediately evaluate the injury
• Failing to provide medical care
• Failing to ensure that medical care was received
• Failing to have adequately trained staff
• Failing to comply with guidelines promulgated to minimize the risk of injury to high school football player
• Any and all other acts of negligence inherent herein of which may be proven within the trial of this matter.”
Attempts to reach both CCA administration and Wunstell were unsuccessful at press-time.
The Allridge family declined to comment on the lawsuit per advice from their attorney.
Wunstell is no longer coaching at CCA. He resigned at the end of the 2013 season. At the time of his resignation, he said the move was to chase an opportunity in the private sector.
In an interview with The Times in November 2013, the veteran coach called Allridge’s death the most difficult thing he had dealt with in his coaching career.
“We’re sad that he’s gone, but we’re happy that he was here and a part of our lives,” Wunstell said in the interview. “We’ll never forget him. I can promise you that. We’ll never forget him.”
