Actions by Northwestern Appall Judge

In what a Cook County judge said was “a wild, wild overreaction,” Northwestern University officials secretly dispatched armed undercover police to witnesses’ depositions in the wrongful death lawsuit of football player Rashidi Wheeler.

Circuit Court Judge Kathy Flanagan on Tuesday ordered the school to keep officers away from future depositions, saying she was “absolutely appalled” by the university’s actions.

Eric Quant, an attorney for Northwestern, told Flanagan that an armed security force had attended the depositions of assistant strength and conditioning coach Thomas Christian and university president Henry Bienen. He said statements made by Wheeler’s mother, Linda Will, including her calling Coach Randy Walker “a murderer,” had “raised a certain level of concern.”

Flanagan said she would appoint a retired judge to attend future depositions to monitor the parties’ behavior.

In another unusual step, the judge said she would personally attend Thursday’s deposition of Dr. Mark Gardner, Northwestern’s former student health services director.

University officials have said Gardner destroyed Wheeler’s medical records shortly after the 22-year-old strong safety collapsed and died on a Northwestern practice field Aug. 3, 2001.

Will and Wheeler’s father, George Wheeler, sued Northwestern, claiming the school and its athletic staff provided poor care to their son after he suffered an acute asthma attack during a conditioning drill.

Northwestern contends that Wheeler, a La Verne Damien High graduate, had ingested two supplements containing the stimulant ephedra, triggering an irregular heartbeat that killed him.

The university has sued makers and distributors of the supplements.

No trial date has been set.