Kansas community college settles lawsuit over football player who died of heat injuries

Tirrell Williams, 19, died two years ago from heat-related injuries at Fort Scott Community College. On Tuesday, a federal judge approved a settlement with the teen’s mother.
Almost two years to the day that her son died after a grueling pre-season football workout at Fort Scott Community College, Natasha Washington made the trip from suburban New Orleans to a federal courtroom in Kansas City, Kansas, to settle her negligence and civil rights case against the school.

Tirrell Williams collapsed in August 2021 after the team was forced to run sprints and do hundreds of up-downs, where players drop to the ground and then pop back up. The exercises were not part of a planned workout — players say coach Carson Hunter was punishing the team after he found a piece of trash on the practice field. Players also alleged the team was denied water.

Williams dropped to the ground mid-workout and was unable to get back up. He died two weeks later at the University of Kansas Hospital. It was, his mother said during Tuesday’s settlement hearing, the first time her son ever left home.