Settlement reached in lawsuit over death of Wake County high school football player

The family of a Rolesville High School football player who died after sustaining a head injury in practice in 2014 has settled its lawsuit with the Wake County school system.

Isaiah Langston, 17, died Sept. 29, 2014, from a stroke that a state medical examiner’s report said was caused by a head injury suffered five days earlier in football practice. School officials confirmed Monday that a settlement had been reached but said they could not provide details – including whether there’s any monetary amount that will be paid to Langston’s family – until the agreement has been signed.

“We have the utmost sympathy for Isaiah Langston’s family,” Tim Simmons, a Wake County schools spokesman, said in a statement Monday. “I can confirm that all four individual defendants – Rolesville High School’s athletic director, athletic trainer, and two coaches – have been dismissed from the lawsuit.

“The parties engaged in extensive discovery that led to a clear conclusion that school personnel acted with care and without any fault, which was the basis for filing the motion for summary judgment.”

Karonnie Truzy, the Greensboro attorney for Langston’s family, did not immediately return a request for comment. But in the lawsuit filed in Wake County Superior Court, Langston’s family accused the school of not following the state’s concussion protocol and of not acting after the teen complained of headaches prior to his collapse before a football game two days later.

Under state law, student-athletes in North Carolina who display symptoms of a concussion must be cleared by a medical doctor or licensed athletic trainer before returning to practice.

In its response to the lawsuit, school officials acknowledged Langston didn’t participate in the concussion protocol and wasn’t cleared to play by any doctor. But school attorneys denied that school employees knew that Langston had suffered a concussion or that he had complained of headaches prior to his collapse.

Langston was hit in the back of the head during football practice Sept. 24, 2014, and had a headache for two days, according to the report by medical examiner Dr. Andrew Rand.

The teen was “held out” of practice during those two days, according to Rand.

Langston, a lineman for the team, collapsed during pregame warm-ups Sept. 26, 2014, and was taken to the hospital. He died three days later.

The medical examiner ruled Langston’s death an accident. The means of death, according to the report, was “head trauma while playing football.”

The medical examiner’s report did not state that Langston had a concussion, but headaches are a symptom of a concussion.

But in its motion to dismiss the lawsuit, school attorneys said that Rand made his determination without having done his own autopsy. They said the medical examiner’s report relied on a statement that Langston’s mother had made to emergency medical technicians saying her son had been injured in practice.

“There is no medical evidence that Langston ever suffered a concussion,” school attorneys said in their motion.

The settlement comes as the case was prepared to go to trial in November.

There has been much more attention in recent years, at all levels, on the effects of concussions sustained by football players. In the Triangle, Orange High School had two players go down with scary injuries on back-to-back nights two weeks ago.

On Oct. 12, 14-year-old Thys Oldenburg was hospitalized with a head injury after a hard tackle during a junior varsity game. He’s in a medically induced coma in the Duke Hospital Pediatric Care Unit.

A day later, senior running back Marvante Beasley went down after a running play and lay motionless for 10 minutes as coaches and trainers surrounded him. Beasley, whose helmet collided with another player, was taken to the hospital, where he was discharged the next day.

This story was originally published October 23, 2017 at 2:11 PM with the headline "Settlement reached in lawsuit over death of Wake County high school football player."