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EASTON, Pa. (AP) — The parents of a 19-year-old college freshman who died of head injuries in a fall suffered after a day of drinking are seeking to hold his roommate and other students liable.
Lafayette College lacrosse recruit McCrae Williams died on Sept. 11, 2017, two days after he fell in his dorm room and likely hit his head on the concrete.
Williams' parents, Christopher and Dianne Williams of Weston, Massachusetts, filed a wrongful death suit against 10 students last week, according to The Morning Call of Allentown. The suit alleges that students failed to seek immediate medical help for Williams after finding him on the floor, instead picking him up and putting him in bed. The students didn't call 911 until the following afternoon.
"For nearly 22 hours, McCrae Williams' catastrophic injuries and dangerous and declining medical condition worsened," the Williams' said in the suit, according to the paper.
The students knew or should have known that Williams was "catastrophically injured" and that failing to seek help for him "would dramatically increase the risk of harm to him," the suit said.
District Attorney John Morganelli declined to file criminal charges in Williams' death, saying there was no evidence of hazing or neglect. No one saw Williams hit his head on the floor, and friends assumed he was intoxicated and simply needed to sleep it off, Morganelli said last year.
Attorneys for the defendants either didn't return phone messages from the paper or declined comment.
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