Bereaved family drops one lawsuit

CHAPEL HILL -- Atlas Fraley's family has dropped its lawsuit against Orange County over his death because their lawyer did not think it could overcome a governmental immunity defense.

"Defendants were performing their duties and acting in good faith," the county's consulting attorney, James Morgan, states in his answer to the lawsuit.

The Fraleys are carrying on with their suit against former Orange County paramedic James Griffin, who responded to the 17-year-old Chapel Hill High football player's 911 call, spent 22 minutes with him and advised him to drink fluids to treat his dehydration. Fraley's parents found their son dead later that day.

The Fraleys' attorney, Don Strickland, said dropping the suit against the county "simplifies the case and targets James Griffin who is the paramedic who left Atlas Fraley home to die and breached a number of policies, procedures and protocols in doing so."

In court filings, Griffin has denied negligence.

"After a careful evaluation ... Griffin determined that Atlas Fraley did not meet the criteria for emergency transport," according to Griffin's answer to the Fraleys' complaint.

Staff writer Jesse James DeConto