Deshler High School freshman August Borden is making slow but steady progress on his long road to recovery after suffering major head trauma at school three weeks ago. While the investigation into the incident so far has not yielded any new information, the student's father, Jason, said his son's medical report revealed some shocking details.
Jason Borden said he and his son's other parents, Drew and Kristen Van Devender, examined August Borden's medical report for the first time last week. It showed that he had no pulse when EMS arrived.
"August did technically die that day," Jason Borden said in a recent interview with "Law & Crime: Sidebar." "We didn't know, no one ever told us until about a week ago that August lost pulse and had to be resuscitated. That he had no heartbeat. That was never made clear to us. And that's a hard pill to swallow."
School officials initially told August Borden's parents that another student had "bear hugged" their son and dropped him to the ground, resulting in the injuries to his face and body. However, they apparently later told police that it was due to an accidental fall down some stairs in front of the school.
Jason Borden recorded his conversations with football coach Patrick Malone and Bryan Murner, the director of student services, who provided him with the name of the student allegedly involved. Since then, August Borden's parents have been pushing for transparency, accusing the school of trying to cover up the truth.
"We're fortunate that he's alive. That's the most important. But the fact is that my son did die on that school property on August 19th at the hands of another student," Jason Borden told "Law & Crime."
He said the medical report also revealed comments by school officials to EMS, saying that August Borden had been "acting strange" before the incident, possibly due to a minor injury he sustained during a scrimmage the week prior.
"They told them that August had been acting strange all day. They told him that he had been throwing up, which never happened. Both of those things are not true. So why did the school go out of their way to tell this to the paramedic?" Jason Borden said.
August Borden's parents set up an email address, [email protected], for witnesses or anyone with knowledge of the incident to come forward anonymously. Jason Borden said multiple people have written in with potentially more disturbing details.
"Several people have reached out and said that this event didn't happen on those stairs. That it actually happened somewhere around the weight room, whether it was the entrance, the exit, somewhere around that area, and that several football players picked August's body up and carried him to that area where they laid him down and then called 911," he said.
Jason Borden encouraged more people to speak up and "tell the truth" about what happened, adding that his son's dream of playing football was forever taken away from him that day.
"Remember, the school had a choice to lie or to tell the truth. That is why the things are the way they are now. If the school chooses tomorrow to come clean and tell the police exactly what happened, every bit of this goes away. It never had to be this way," he said.
On Monday, the Tuscumbia City Schools Board of Education briefly mentioned the ongoing investigation, which was recently turned over to the Madison County district attorney. The board stated that it was taking the matter seriously and would hire an outside attorney to investigate the incident, including the school's response.
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