American football player dies a month after head-on-head collision

US

An American football player has died a month after suffering a head-on-head collision during a college game.

Medrick Burnett Jr was playing for Alabama A&M University against Alabama State University on 26 October – the day before his birthday – when the severe injury occurred.

His sister said on his GoFundMe page that the 20-year-old linebacker had “several brain bleeds and swelling of the brain” following the collision in Birmingham, a city in the southeastern US state.

In a “last resort” to save his life, Dominece James said he’d had a craniotomy – the surgical removal of part of the skull to expose the brain.

Alabama A&M athletic department announced his death on Wednesday but later sent a retraction, saying the news had come via “an immediate family member”.

Jefferson County coroner confirmed on Friday that Burnett Jr had died on Wednesday evening.

Read more from Sky News:
Thanksgiving parade disrupted by Gaza protest
Stowaway discovered on flight from New York

The freshman was from Lakewood, California, and joined Alabama A&M in the summer after starting his college career at Louisiana’s Grambling State University.

Articles You May Like

Two running backs in the top three?! Ranking the 50 best players in the CFP
Surace knocks out Munguia in stunning upset
Two killed as private plane crashes in Argentina
Man convicted of taking part in Capitol riots expects Trump to set him free
US government avoids shutdown after funding bill clears Congress