A settlement has been reached following the unfortunate death of a University of the Cumberlands student wrestler during a purported “punishment practice.”
Grant Brace, a student at a Kentucky university, passed away on August 31, 2020, at the age of just 20. He had been participating in a wrestling match.
After a video of the student frantically looking for water an hour before his abrupt death surfaced, it was determined that the boy had died of a fatal heatstroke.
According to CNN, the mourning family of Brace and the academic institution have reportedly struck a $14.1 million settlement.
EXCLUSIVE: Parents of college wrestler who died of heat stroke break their silence after reaching $14 million settlement with school. @trevorlault reports. pic.twitter.com/wdP8AN1fVM
— Good Morning America (@GMA) March 20, 2023
According to the lawsuit the magazine has seen, Brace died during a “punishment practice” in which the college wrestling coaches “ignored Grant’s deteriorating medical condition throughout practice.”
The student was discovered dead with his fists clenched in the grass and dirt after making a desperate and erratic attempt to find help and water, it was reported.
Additionally, it was claimed that he pleaded for water on numerous occasions. Still, the training personnel did not let anyone assist him and instead sent him alone outside of the wrestling facility.
This assertion was supported by Alex Myers, another wrestler who just spoke with Good Morning America.
“It was dreadful beyond belief. We were not allowed to enter the [locker] room again until the end of punishment, and nobody really had any water left in their water bottles.
Following the settlement, the University of the Cumberlands Chancellor Jerry Jackson issued a news release that stated, according to CNN, “Grant was a talented, well-liked young man entering his junior year with a bright future ahead of him.”
He stated, “Our University community continues to mourn his untimely loss.” We hope that resolving this issue at an early stage in the judicial procedure would bring some measure of comfort and healing to the Brace family.
They said, “The University decided to settle the case now in a way it hopes will respect the Brace family’s enormous loss.”The family’s legal team has stated that the university is also required to carry out a heat-illness training program called the B.R.A.C.E Protocol after accepting the $1,000,000 settlement.
According to the publication, the protocol will inform “coaches and athletes about exertional heat strokes in order to prevent further heat-related deaths.”
The student’s family made a Facebook post after the University of the Cumberlands agreed to the payment.
“The civil lawsuit has been settled, and we rejected the University’s numerous requests to keep the terms of the settlement private and confidential,” it stated. Never will we be silent.
“We firmly feel Grant’s experience can significantly influence future activism, education, regulations, and practices related to heat stroke. There are still a lot of unresolved questions, but as a family, we can now start to share a little bit of our heartbreaking story for the first time.
We hope to raise awareness of the risks of heat stroke illness in athletics by doing this. They added that taking another valuable life with the right education should never be necessary.
Our condolences are extended to Brace’s loved ones and friends for their loss.
