A grand jury has indicted two people in the death of a Clayton County basketball player who died after participating in workout drills during extreme heat.
Imani Bell collapsed and later died after participating in outdoor basketball conditioning drills at Elite Scholars Academy on Aug. 13, 2019.
In July, the grand jury indicted Larosa Walker-Asekere and Dwight Palmer on second degree murder, child cruelty in the second degree, involuntary manslaughter and reckless conduct.
Earlier this year, the family filed a lawsuit against the team’s coach, the athletic director, principal and assistant principal of Elite Scholars Academy among others as negligent parties in her death.
Bell’s parents said the 16-year-old teen was forced to perform conditioning drills outdoors on one of the hottest days of the summer. The heat index made it even hotter.
A Georgia Bureau of Investigation autopsy from 2019 indicated Bell suffered from hyperthermia and rhabdomyolysis after exercising in temperatures that reached as high as 97 degrees with a heat index of 103 degrees.
The conditioning drills may have violated the county’s guidelines on outdoor workouts, Channel 2 previously reported. Clayton County Schools said there was no heat advisory warning staff to keep kids inside because of the extreme heat that day.