Community Corner
Los Alamitos Mother Sues Pop Warner Football Over Son's Paralysis
The boy was left a quadriplegic following a spinal injury at a Pop Warner football game in 2011
The Pop Warner organization was sued Tuesday by a teen football player who was left a quadriplegic after suffering a spinal injury in a 2011 football game in Laguna Hills.
The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of Donnovan Hill, now 15, by his mother, Crystal Dixon of Los Alamitos, who is also a plaintiff. The suit also names local Pop Warner coaches and representatives. It seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
A Pop Warner representative could not be immediately reached for comment.
The boy, then 13, fractured his spine on Nov, 6, 2011, during the Midget Orange Bowl championship game at Laguna Hills High School. He was a star player for the Lakewood Lancers.
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Although fatigued, the boy's coaches sent him back into the game as a substitute for another defensive player and he was hurt while making a head- first tackle trying to prevent an opposing player from entering the end zone, the suit states.
"Donnovan immediately went limp and dropped to the field, unmoving," the suit states. "Donnovan told those gathered around him that he could not feel his legs."
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The boy has minimal use of his arms and no independent movement from his upper chest down, according to the suit.
Dixon suffered emotional distress from witnessing her son's accident, the suit states.
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