Coroner Says Heat Was Factor in Player’s Death

Medical examiners said Friday that they are awaiting lab results before ruling on what killed a 13-year-old Jasper County football player who collapsed and died during an afternoon practice.

But Jasper County Coroner Billy Norris said a heat index near 100 is a culprit in the death Wednesday of Jamarious Berez Bennett, who collapsed after coaches told him to remove his helmet and rest.

Jamarious, an eighth-grader at Jasper County Middle School playing his second year of football, was taken to Jasper Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

An autopsy was performed Thursday in Atlanta, but pathologists want more detailed information from lab tests before determining a cause of death, Norris said.

“They’re really trying to rule out whether it was the heat or not,” he said.

Monticello is about 35 miles north of Macon, which had a high temperature of 88 Wednesday and a heat index of about 97, according to the National Weather Service. The heat index is a composite of temperature and relative humidity.

The student’s mother, Lawandra Bennett, said her son did not have a history of health problems.

“All I know is what his coaches and stuff were telling me: He wasn’t feeling well so they told him to go to the sidelines and take his helmet off,” she said. “They said his vision got blurry, and when the trainer went over to where he was, he collapsed. That’s what I was told.”

Jamarious passed a physical exam three weeks ago before football practice started, Norris said. The team began practice Monday and had been on the field only 20 to 30 minutes Wednesday afternoon when Jamarious began feeling ill, Norris said.