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Cause of wrestler’s death revealed

By LEE WILLIAMS
lwilliams@TheCitizenNews.com

Georgia Bureau of Investigation officials have released the findings on what caused the death of a 15-year-old Sandy Creek High School student who collapsed and died during wrestling practice Nov. 18.

Autopsy results show Sandy Creek sophomore David Ribeiro died from cardiac dysrhythmia, Fayette County Coroner C.J. Mowell said Friday.

“The heart was out of rhythm,” Mowell said. “It’s not a very common cause of death, but it’s not an uncommon cause of death either.”

Fayette County School spokeswoman Melinda Berry-Dreisbach said in an earlier interview that coaches noticed Ribeiro looked fatigued and asked him to rest. Ribeiro collapsed and coaches responded immediately. The coaches called 9-1-1 and administered CPR to the teen.

Paramedics responded within four minutes and transported Ribeiro to Piedmont Fayette Hospital where he later died.

The school is equipped with defribrillators, however coaches determined Ribeiro needed immediate care and they did not leave the student to get it, Berry-Dreisbach said.

Ribeiro died during his first year on the wrestling team. He was a member of the Air Force JROTC program and a previous member of the marching band.

The November 2004 incident is not the first time tragedy struck the high school located on Jenkins Road in Tyrone.

In 2003, Shelly Smitts, a member of the school’s swim team, died from a viral infection to the heart. In 2000, wrestler Kerry Ruffin was paralyzed during a wrestling meet.

Staff writer Michael Boylan contributed to this report.