Years after River Bluff player died after practice, settlement reached in suit
Four years after Lewis Simpkins, a River Bluff High School student, died following football practice, a wrongful death lawsuit was settled.
South Carolina circuit court filings in Lexington County show an alternative dispute resolution was reached, but the amount of money agreed upon in the settlement was not given.
It’s not uncommon in wrongful death lawsuits for it to take several weeks or a month for financial details to be made public. But under South Carolina law, a judge must approve the settlement.
In the lawsuit, Simpkins’ parents alleged the 14-year-old collapsed on Aug. 10, 2016, after a two-hour and 15-minute practice where coaches punished the team with a series of sprints and strenuous exercises in heat that approached triple digits.
With humidity, the heat index that day was 95 degrees, The State previously reported.
The players were penalized for a poor performance in a scrimmage the previous day, according to the wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf of Lewis’ parents, Willie and Shonda Simpkins. Former players claimed it was the hardest practice they ever had, according to the lawsuit.
Lewis collapsed in the River Bluff locker room just after the full-pads practice, which did not end until the coaches ordered players to run “gassers” and do “up-downs,” according to the lawsuit.
Lexington County School District One, Lexington County, the South Carolina High School League, and the South Carolina Board of Education were blamed in the lawsuit for failing to adopt and enforce policies to protect student-athletes training in extreme conditions.
When it was filed, the lawsuit asked for unspecified damages, to be decided by a jury.
Lewis was a 6-foot-2, 270-pound defensive tackle who had dreams of playing football at Clemson University.
He was a musician, a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and had started his sophomore year at River Bluff. Lewis was just two weeks shy of his 15th birthday and in his first season with the varsity football team when he died.
His family established a foundation to support Christian missions and provide sponsorships for students who share Lewis’ interests and goals.
Willie Simpkins was at practice and watched his son suffer, according to the lawsuit.
During his final practice, Lewis struggled and was “in the back behind everyone” during the sideline-to-sideline runs, the lawsuit states. After that, defensive players were ordered to do the drill where they would repeatedly drop to the ground in a push-up position and then bring themselves back to their feet, according to the lawsuit.
“Lewis had trouble getting up and could barely lift his feet,” the lawsuit said. “After several of these, Lewis leaned on one knee and ultimately could not get up. Coaches yelled for the players to get up and keep going. Lewis did one more ‘up-down’ and then rolled over and again could not get up. Lewis was gasping for air.”
Lewis was carried into the training room, where he initially answered several questions but continued to struggle to breathe when “his head dropped forward and he became unresponsive,” according to the lawsuit.
Two trainers and a coach treated Simpkins on site until he was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival, according to previous reports.
In September 2016, Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher said Lewis died from a pair of pre-existing heart conditions that were exacerbated by the heat and humidity that afternoon.
Simpkins had two doctor’s physicals in the year before his death, neither of which picked up any heart abnormalities, according to The State. Neither physical included an electrocardiogram, a test that can uncover signs of dangerous and irregular heart rhythms, The State reported.
Staff reporter John Monk contributed to this story.
This story was originally published October 20, 2020 at 4:34 PM with the headline "Years after River Bluff player died after practice, settlement reached in suit."
