Reseda High Teen Died of Head Injury

A Reseda High School football player, whose family accuses school administrators of negligence in his death following a tough game last month, died of head injuries he probably received on the playing field, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office declared Friday.

An autopsy performed the day after Eric Hoggatt, 18, was found dead in bed by his mother concluded that the running back died of head trauma with subdural hemorrhage, a buildup of blood inside the skull caused by ruptured veins, said coroner’s spokesman Tom Schwabe.

No evidence of drug or alcohol use was found, Schwabe said.

Although the coroner’s office said the complete autopsy report probably would not be available for two more weeks, Schwabe said the bleeding seemed to have resulted from an accumulation of blows to Hoggatt’s head on the playing field.

“I would say that’s probably true”--that the game caused the fatal injuries--Schwabe said, giving the first official report on the cause of the youth’s death.

Hoggatt’s death, followed by that of an Orange County high school football player nine days later, touched off a debate over the treatment of young athletes in contact sports. Some physicians suggested that Hoggatt’s symptoms after the Sept. 12 game, when he reportedly complained of numbness and dizziness, clearly indicated he should have received medical attention then.

The coroner’s announcement Friday buttressed the conclusion already drawn by Hoggatt’s parents, who have publicly rebuked school administrators and a volunteer team doctor for what they said was a failure to respond adequately to their son’s complaints.

“I blame Eric’s death on the coaches and the doctor,” said Michael E. Hoggatt, a trucker who was on the road in Kansas when his son died. “If they had given him proper medical treatment on the field, he would have been alive right now.

“They did absolutely nothing. They [might as well] have put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger.”

Attorneys for the South-Central Los Angeles family said Friday they planned to sue and had hired their own pathologist, who conducted an independent autopsy and observed the coroner’s tests.

Those tests concluded “that had action been taken, Eric’s life could have been saved,” said lawyer Bonnie Fine. “He bled for hours before he died. If anyone had told his mother to take him to an emergency room, she would have.

“I think it’s pretty clear there’s negligence there,” Fine said.

Reseda High Principal Bob Kladifko circulated a memo to the school faculty and staff shortly after Hoggatt’s death saying Hoggatt gave no indication of any physical problems after the game, a claim that Fine has called “completely contrary” to the facts.

Hoggatt was allowed to board a bus for home after the game against Chatsworth High School, despite having complained to team doctor Michael Hollander, an orthopedist, of being dizzy and feeling numbness in his legs and fingers, teammates said.

Hollander had ordered Hoggatt out of the game in the last two minutes but did not have him seek further medical examination, other players said.

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The youth’s mother, Verna Hoggatt, was not told of the symptoms.

She later complained that the family should have been informed so they could have awakened Hoggatt during the night, a common measure to check on the condition of those who have sustained blows to the head.

“I think a moron would realize something was wrong,” Michael Hoggatt said at his home Friday evening.

Neither Reseda Coach Joel Schaeffer nor Hollander, who was on the field at Reseda’s home game Friday against Sylmar, would comment on the coroner’s announcement.

Los Angeles Unified School District spokesman Brad Sales said he had no comment on the autopsy findings “because of potential litigation,” other than that the district would seek clarification from the coroner’s office to determine whether the bleeding was caused by injuries sustained in the game.

Even before the coroner’s report, the Hoggatt family had expressed anger at school administrators, who they said responded with hostility to their requests for a remembrance ceremony at the school. The family alleged administrators even threatened to have them arrested for trespassing on campus when they arrived there four days after his death to pick up flowers left by friends and ask for Eric’s football uniform as a keepsake. School officials denied making such a threat.

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Following what relatives said was the confrontation with administrators, more than 40 students walked out of classes to attend an impromptu coffee shop memorial service. Students said administrators had to seal the campus to prevent a larger walkout, but school officials denied that.

The Hoggatt family was relieved to learn that no drugs or other medical condition were involved, Fine said. “I think they feel somewhat better that what they thought all along was true,” she said, but, “they feel very, very sad to know that this game killed him.”

Hoggatt’s was the fourth of five football-related deaths in Southern California high schools over the past seven years and brought to three the number of high school athletes to die this fall.

Adrian Taufaasau, a quarterback for Coronado High’s football team, died Sept. 22, two days after being injured in a game against Costa Mesa. On Sept. 4, another Orange County high school athlete, water polo player Jaffet “Jeff” Campos of Saddleback High School, collapsed and died, apparently of a heart attack.

On Friday, Reseda’s football team was told of the autopsy results during their sixth-period meeting before the Sylmar game, Principal Kladifko said.

A moment of silence in Hoggatt’s memory was observed just before the game, as it was at all other games in the Pac-8 conference Friday night, a tribute conceived two weeks ago by the athletic directors of conference schools.

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Many of the students and fans at Friday’s game were wearing blue ribbons in Hoggatt’s memory, and one of the pages of the program was dedicated to him.

In the crowd were Hoggatt’s sister, Julia, and his twin brother, Michael, along with several of their cousins, who are all Reseda students.

Julia Hoggatt said an assistant principal called her in to a private room Friday afternoon to tell her the news about the autopsy, which was not announced to the student body.

“She wanted me to feel comfortable with it,” Julia Hoggatt said. “They don’t want the school to look bad.”

She said that news of the report leaked out on campus, and that several other students asked her about it, but she said she didn’t feel like talking.

“If someone tries to talk to me about my brother, I just get away from them,” she said.

Kladifko, who also attended the game, said the team members had to fight back their emotions to play, which they decided was what Eric would have wanted them to do.

“We’re devastated by the tragedy that has occurred,” Kladifko said. “It’s something very difficult for us to handle. I’m taking it very hard.”

He declined to talk about added safety precautions for football players, adding that “the district office has indicated a possibility of litigation.”

Times staff writers Ralph Frammolino and David Wharton contributed to this story.

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Head Trauma

Reseda High football player Eric Hoggatt died last month of head trauma with subdural hemorrhaging in his brain, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office announced Friday. The coroner attributed Hoggatt’s death to an accumulation of blows to his head during a game the night before his death.

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Subdural Hemorrhage

A subdural hemorrhage occurs when there is bleeding within the space between two of the meninges- the membrane layers that cover the brain. This type of hemorrhage occurs in the space between the tough dura mater layer and the arachnoid.

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Structure of a Football Helmet

The padding in a typical football helmet consists of foam layers and an inflatable plasticbladder. Air can be pumped into the bladder chambers to provide a customized fit.

* Energy foam of rubber / vinyl compound absorbs energy from shell.

* Inflatable bladder for accommodating variety of head sizes.

* Shell of polycarbonate alloy, high- impact plastic similar to bulletproof material.

Sources: Los Angeles County coroner; American Medical Assn. Encyclopedia of Medicine; Harper Collins Illustrated Medical Dictionary; Encyclopedia of Science and Technology; Ridell Inc.

Athlete Deaths

The death of Reseda High football player Eric Hoggatt is one of at least 10 involving young Southern California athletes under unusual circumstances in recent years. The others include:

Sept. 22, 1996: Adrian Taufaasau, a quarterback for Coronado High, dies two days after being injured in a football game against Costa Mesa.

Sept. 4, 1996: During water polo practice, 17-year-old Jaffet “Jeff” Campos from Saddleback High in Orange County collapses on the pool deck, apparently from a heart attack, and is pronounced dead an hour later at the hospital.

Oct. 19, 1995: Water polo player Gray Lunde, 14, of Newport Harbor High, dies after suffering a heart attack during practice.

April 14, 1994: Nine-year-old Timothy Richard Herman of La Canada-Flintridge dies after a baseball game in which he was struck in the head by a baseball. Three hours after the game, he complains of pain in his right leg, collapses and is rushed to the hospital. The coroner’s office determines the death was related to his heart--it was enlarged and had tumors--and was not directly related to being hit by the ball.

Aug. 19, 1992: Terrie Cate, a freshman on the UC Irvine women’s soccer team, collapses during a six-mile run on the first day of practice. She dies three days later.

Aug. 18, 1992: San Fernando High football player Sergio Echevarria, 17, collapses after a conditioning practice in which he ran sprints for an hour. He dies two days later as a result of heatstroke.

March 4, 1990: Loyola Marymount University basketball star Hank Gathers collapses during a game and dies less than two hours later. The autopsy lists the cause of death as a heart disorder. At the time, he was being treated with medication to slow a rapid heartbeat.

Oct. 6, 1989: Kevin Copeland, a 17-year-old all-city wide receiver for Dorsey High, suffers a heart attack while standing on the sideline during a game and is pronounced dead an hour later. His family has a history of heart disease.

1989: Kiet Le, a Westminster La Quinta High sophomore, collapses during a junior varsity game and dies after undergoing brain surgery.

Source: staff reports.