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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Michelle Crockett dabbed her eyes. Her voice cracked with emotion.
A year after her 15-year-old son Max Gilpin died from complications of heat stroke suffered at football practice, it’s still a struggle to recall the way her son looked when she arrived at Pleasure Ridge Park High on that muggy August evening.
Crockett testified Friday in the trial of former Pleasure Ridge Park High School coach David Jason Stinson, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of reckless homicide and wanton endangerment in the death of Gilpin. The sophomore collapsed while running in 94-degree heat in August 2008 and died three days later.
Stinson’s trial is a rare case of a coach being charged in the on-field death of a player.
Crockett recalled rushing to practice and seeing her oldest son sitting on a four-wheeler being propped up by two adults. There were ice packs on his neck. His eyes were half-closed and bloodshot. He couldn’t speak.