Iliana Limon's coverage of the death of University of Central Florida football player Ereck Plancher continues in the Orlando Sentinel.
The attorney for the Plancher family, J.D. Dowell, is looking in to filing a wrongful-death lawsuit against the school. Word out of Orlando this weekend is that the family is reinforcing their opinion that Ereck never told his parents or any oither family members that he knew of, or had, sickle-cell trait- the diagnosed cause of his death during a practice in March.
Plancher collapsed during an off-season workout under the supervision of UCF coaches, including Knights Head Coach George O'Leary.
Limon also divulges that the family knew of two other times Plancher collapsed during his practices on the UCF campus. UCF officials maintain that Plancher tested positive for sickle-cell trait during an examination, but privacy laws keep the university from telling anyone, family included, those results at any time.
Central Florida officials initially said that there were no issues where Plancher was concerned. They changed those statements when the autopsy results revealed the sickle cell issue.
"I haven't seen anything that would indicate Ereck knew he had sickle-cell trait," Dowell said in the Sentinel article. "I'm not suggesting UCF or someone else did not tell him. The forms that he filled out when a student-athlete first arrives at UCF actually had that question. He was asked if he had sickle-cell trait and he checked no when he first entered the school."
Dowell said he does not have Plancher's complete medical records from UCF and there may be other documentation indicating the school told Plancher about the trait.
"I am hopeful that we can find the person who actually told Ereck he had sickle-cell trait and find exactly what he was told about it," Dowell said.
In independent interviews during the past seven months, Plancher's former high school coach, two of his cousins and five friends told the Sentinel that the 19-year-old collapsed twice during workouts at UCF in the year before his death.
They said one severe episode required him to be transported to a hospital by ambulance for treatment.
Several people close to Ereck Plancher and the Plancher family have been interviewed by Mark Fainaru-Wada and the TV types at the four-letter.
The Fainaru-Wada "Outside The Lines" piece is below...
((HT: ESPN/ESPN.com))
