STATEN ISLAND — The family of a Curtis High School football player who died after collapsing at a practice last year filed a lawsuit claiming emergency workers failed to give "adequate" care.
The parents of Miles Kirkland, 16, filed a wrongful death suit against the Department of Education, the FDNY and other agencies for failing to give their son proper care after he collapsed on the field in Sept. 2014, the Staten Island Advance first reported.
"EMT workers... had ample opportunity to save Miles Kirkland's life by sending the proper ambulance services," the lawsuit read.
"Defendants were negligent in sending the wrong ambulance vehicle and crew that was unauthorized to preform the needed life-saving techniques to preserve Miles Kirkland's life[,] like the use of a defibrillator."
On Sept. 1, 2014, Kirkland fainted and went into cardiac arrest during the morning practice on Curtis High School's football field.
Last month, his parents Tanza Kirkland and Jamar Thomas filed the suit for an undetermined amount.
"This was a tragic incident," a spokesman for the city's Law Department said. "The city will review the complaint."
Kirkland, an offensive and defensive lineman, stood 6-foot 2 and weighed 295 pounds, according to the Advance.
By the time the first ambulance crew arrived, Kirkland was already unconscious and they did not immediately take him to the hospital or use CPR or a defibrillator on him, according to the suit.
A second crew arrived but Kirkland died "because of the lengthy delay in the transport," according to the suit.
Kirkland was taken to Richmond University Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
"The parents are still really hurting," the parents' lawyer, Jonathan Ginsberg, said.
