Photo: University of the Cumberlands
A Tennessee family has reached a multi-million-dollar settlement with a Kentucky university after their son died of a heat stroke following a workout with the wrestling team.
According to theAssociated Press, the parents of 20-year-old Grant Brace sued the University of the Cumberlands after their son died hours after the first training day of the wrestling season in 2020.
In a statement to PEOPLE, the university said the settlement exceeds $14 million and that they have agreed to participate in a heat-illness training program and to help raise awareness of heat-related injuries.
“Grant was a talented, well-liked young man entering his junior year with a bright future ahead of him,” University Chancellor Jerry Jackson said in the statement. “Our University community continues to mourn his untimely loss. We sincerely hope that resolving this matter early in the legal process will offer the Brace family a measure of peace and healing.”
Brace followed through with the drills until he became exhausted. But after his coach threatened to kick him off the team, he continued.
Eventually, Brace stopped the drills and asked for water, but the coaches did not provide any or contact emergency personnel, the family claimed.
Brace eventually collapsed about 300 yards away from a non-working water fountain.
“They did it and didn’t care,” Grant’s father, Kyle Brace, toldGood Morning America. “They didn’t care.”
“He was on all fours, and he had dug his hands in the dirt, and he had fistfuls of dirt,” Kyle toldGood Morning America. “It’s too late.”
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In their statement to PEOPLE, the university said it believed it could defend itself from the claims but chose to settle to avoid a lengthy and costly legal process.
“The University made the decision to settle the case now in a manner it hopes will respect the Brace family’s tremendous loss,” they said.
According to theWashington Post, the university said the two wrestling coaches involved in that day’s session have since resigned.
source: people.com
