Autopsy Pending on Ribet Player

An autopsy is pending for a high school basketball player who died Monday night after collapsing during practice, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said Tuesday.

Lawrence Jenkins, 17, a senior at Ribet Academy in Los Angeles, was pronounced dead at 7:51 p.m. Monday at Glendale Memorial Hospital and Health Center after he was transported from the school by paramedics.

Lt. Fred Corral of the coroner’s investigations division said his office was awaiting Jenkins’ body and medical records from the hospital before scheduling an autopsy. He also said additional tests could be performed and it may be weeks before a definitive cause of death is determined.

Jenkins, a 6-foot 4 1/2-inch senior, transferred to Ribet this fall from Burbank Bellarmine-Jefferson, where he had been a part-time starter on the varsity as a sophomore and junior.

Keith Walk-Greene, an assistant basketball coach at Ribet, said the team was nearing the end of a light practice when Jenkins knelt on one knee after running three wind sprints.

“I went to go help him,” Walk-Greene said. “I didn’t know if it was a shoulder, knee or ankle [problem]. That’s when it all happened.”

Walk-Greene said Jenkins collapsed into his arms and fell unconscious. School personnel called 911 and paramedics arrived and took Jenkins to the hospital, Walk-Greene said.

Officials at Ribet Academy, a private school with about 125 high school students, told pupils in grades 7-12 of Jenkins’ death Tuesday morning. Grief counselors were on site to aid students and school personnel, said Ronald L. Sires, administrator of the school.

“A lot of kids went home today,” Sires said. “A lot of kids are dealing with it in their own way. It’s a loss we’ll never really get over, but hopefully we can grow from it and take it as a positive that we had the opportunity to meet him, be with him and welcome him into our family at Ribet.”

Ribet Academy’s season-opening nonleague game against Norwalk Pioneer Baptist, scheduled for Tuesday night, was canceled. Bellarmine-Jefferson also canceled its Tuesday opener.