School issues timeline on player's death

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The University of Missouri on Friday released a 10-point timeline detailing the events leading up to the July 12 death of Tiger football player Aaron O'Neal.

Officials had previously declined to disclose details surrounding the 19-year-old sophomore's death, citing an ongoing investigation by the Boone County medical examiner.

The timeline was released two days after The Associated Press reported that a campus police report showed O'Neal wasn't immediately taken to the hospital across the street from Faurot Field but instead driven to the team offices, which are also across the street but on an opposite side.

"While the review of the events that took place ... has not been fully completed, the institution believes it is important to clarify to the extent possible what occurred on that day," athletics spokesman Chad Moller said in a news release. He could not immediately be reached Friday afternoon for additional details.

"We are continuing to do our due diligence in assisting with a review of the day's events," he continued. "We ask for everyone's patience as we allow this review to be pursued. We will provide periodic updates as further information is obtained."

The timeline shows that O'Neal -- who died 90 minutes after slumping to the ground at the end of a preseason workout -- then spent 12 minutes in the team's locker room with an unnamed teammate and "athletic staff member" before he was carried by those two to a waiting truck. The pair then drove O'Neal to the team's offices at the Tom Taylor building.

The timeline does not specify whether the athletics staff member in the locker room was a team trainer, employees who under NCAA rules are required to supervise summer workouts, along with strength and conditioning directors. Team coaches are not allowed to participate in the preseason sessions, which are billed as voluntary.

The timeline also indicates that O'Neal was taken to the Taylor building in "the front seat of a waiting truck," an account that contradicts the description provided by athletic trainer Greg Nagel in a 911 call logged at 3:08 p.m., 29 minutes after O'Neal fell to the ground.

"He was brought to our door in the back of a pickup from afternoon workouts," Nagel told emergency dispatchers. "We need someone here in a hurry."

Paramedics arrived at the football team building six minutes after Nagel's call, the timeline says. Sixteen minutes later, O'Neal was taken to nearby University Hospital. He was declared dead at 4:05 p.m., 35 minutes after arriving at the hospital.

O'Neal, 6 feet, 3 inches and 220 pounds, started to struggle during conditioning drills about 45 minutes into the hourlong session, during which players wore shorts, T-shirts and football cleats but no helmets or pads. The backup middle linebacker from suburban St. Louis slumped to the ground after the final drill and was helped off the field by a teammate.

He was "in full cardiac arrest" by the time campus police officer Clayton Henke and University Hospital paramedics arrived at the Taylor building, Henke wrote in his police report.

O'Neal was unconscious when he arrived at the Taylor building, assistant athletic trainer Alfred Castillo told university police. He was taken there rather than the nearby hospital "so that O'Neal could be seen by staff members," Henke wrote. The timeline released Friday does not say when O'Neal fell unconscious.

Boone County medical examiner Valerie Rao completed an autopsy the day after O'Neal's death and ruled out infection, trauma and foul play as causes of death. Complete results won't be available for several weeks, pending toxicology tests and other laboratory analysis. Rao has repeatedly declined to discuss the case.

Castillo told police that he detected O'Neal's pulse when the player was inside the vehicle. But once inside the athletics building, O'Neal's pulse further weakened. When Castillo couldn't identify an auditory heart beat, he attached an automatic defibrillator to O'Neal in an attempt to shock him back to life, according to the report.

Paramedics arrived before Castillo could do so. They performed chest compressions in the ambulance and administered CPR en route to the hospital.

Team trainers and strength coaches are required by the NCAA to be certified in CPR and first aid techniques. The three Missouri athletics trainers who attended the July 12 workout had such certification, officials said.

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Timeline

The University of Missouri on Friday released the following sequence of significant events in relation the July 12 death of Aaron O'Neal, with some information having been obtained from official documentation. Other times are an estimation based on the best information available:

* 1:30 p.m. -- Voluntary summer conditioning workout session began at Faurot Field.

* 2:35 p.m. -- Conditioning drills ended, with all players completing the workout.

* 2:39 p.m. -- Aaron O'Neal went to the ground, as captured by a newspaper photographer in attendance, after completing stretching drills. He then joined his teammates in a huddle before the group dispersed.

* 2:43 p.m. -- O'Neal began walking to the game day locker room located under the south stands of Memorial Stadium, and was assisted by a teammate, as documented by a photographer in attendance.

* 2:45 to 2:57 p.m. -- O'Neal was in the locker room with a teammate and an athletic staff member.

* 2:57 to 3 p.m. -- O'Neal was carried out of the locker room by a teammate and athletic staff member into the front seat of an awaiting truck located in the parking lot south of the locker room.

* 3:03 p.m. -- Vehicle arrived at the sports medicine facility in the Tom Taylor building.

* 3:08 p.m. -- Paramedics called via 911 from the sports medicine offices.

* 3:14 p.m. -- Ambulance arrived at Taylor building and assumed primary care.

* 3:30 p.m. -- Ambulance arrived at University Hospital.