Those who make venues available for anything other than their intended purpose have officially been put on notice after, of all things, a high school cross country meet. Last month, the parents of high school runner who died as the result of a fall while warming up for the 2012 state championship meet in New York filed a lawsuit naming Erie County and the local volunteer fire department as defendants.
On Nov. 9, 2012, Ronan Guyer slipped and fell during a practice run at county-owned Elma Meadows Golf Course. According to the suit filed in the New York State Supreme Court in Buffalo, Guyer, a 14-year-old high school freshman, slipped in the mud, landed hard on his chest and suffered cardiac arrest. Emergency medical responders called to the scene were able to revive him and transport him to a Buffalo hospital where he died five days later.
The suit says Erie County and the Jamison Road Volunteer Fire Department were negligent for not making sure an ambulance and proper medical personnel were at the site prior to the start of the meet, for not having an automated external defibrillator (AED) on hand and for not alerting parents and participants about the absence of all three.
Article 19, Section 917 of the New York Education law says an AED is required for all school-sponsored events, even those that are held off campus.
Family members have said that Guyer had no prior history of heart problems.
According to the suit, the fire company had been contacted to provide an ambulance the day of the event, but did not, nor did it tell meet officials that it had not planned to do so. It also did not contact another fire district to provide an emergency medical vehicle, the suit says.
The suit, which also names the Southold Union Free School District and the New York State Public High School Athletic Association as defendants, seeks an unspecified amount of damages.