Student's death at IMG leads to civil trial

MANATEE — A wrongful death lawsuit filed by the estate of former IMG Academy student Christian Chalita resumed Monday before a Manatee County jury.

Chalita, who played basketball, collapsed and died in 2004 shortly after getting off a treadmill in IMG Academy’s International Performance Institute when he was 16.

The civil suit alleges that Chalita, who was from Mexico and lived in Miami, was not given a thorough enough physical examination before being allowed to participate in the school’s programs and that he wasn’t supervised during the workout that may have claimed his life.

The multi-million dollar lawsuit also claims that Chalita’s mother told the school that Chalita’s father, Frank, died of a heart ailment when he was 33, which should have motivated the school to check more intensely for a pre-existing heart condition.

Among the witnesses who testified Monday were IMG Academy registered nurse Joanie Miller and basketball coach Daniel Bartow.

Miller said someone notified her in the school’s health services center claiming a student was having a seizure.

Miller said she went to the exercise room and found Chalita, who had been using a treadmill, on the ground. He was unresponsive and breathing irregularly and his skin was starting to turn blue, she said.

She testified that Chalita’s symptoms were not consistent with a seizure but rather a circulation and cardiovascular episode.

Miller testified that she didn’t bring oxygen with her and didn’t know if there was oxygen in the IPI but she confirmed that administering oxygen would have been the correct response to labored deep breathing.

Seconds later, Chalita had no pulse in his neck, wrist or heart, the nurse said.

Miller also said that she didn’t bring a defibrillator over from health services and didn’t know if there was one there.

About that time, emergency medical technicians arrived and took over the treatment, Miller said.

Miller said she never left Chalita’s side.

Bartow said that Chalita was a feisty and scrappy basketball player who dreamed of playing in the NBA and worked extra hard to try to reach that goal.

Chalita mostly played for the Pendleton School Junior Varsity team, which would have been much better than many high school teams, Bartow said.

But when Bartow was asked, “Who was responsible to decide if Christian was fit to participate?” Bartow replied, “I don’t know.”

Christina Chalita, Christian’s mother, clutched a small photo album of her son when she stepped outside the courtroom during the day’s hearing.

“He was the best kid in the whole, wide world,” she said.

Richard Dymond, Herald reporter, can be reached at 748-0411, ext. 6686.