Report released on player's death

Parents of student call conclusion 'an insult'

Bigfork High School football coaches responded appropriately to a player's collapse, according to a Missoula attorney's investigative report.

But the players' parents called the report "flat-out dishonest" and "an insult to our late son."

When Jeff Bowman, 17, collapsed on the field during an evening practice, coaches reached him in a minute at most and began cardio-pulmonary resuscitation almost immediately. They continued CPR until paramedics arrived.

That's the testimony 19 people shared with attorney Elizabeth Kaleva, who conducted the investigation after Bowman's death Aug. 20. Students' and parents' names were not included in the report to protect their privacy.

The report deliberately did not address the cause of death, including whether the evening's heat and smoky conditions contributed to Bowman's collapse. However, many witnesses questioned commented on the conditions.

The Bigfork School District made the report public Tuesday evening, 24 hours after releasing it to Bob and Troy Bowman, Jeff's parents. The Bowmans also released a statement Tuesday, expressing their disappointment with the report.

"The obvious starting point for any honest investigation would be the glaring question of whether the coaches were wrong to hold that fatal practice in the dangerous smoke-filled air and heat," the statement said. "The decision by the school and its hand-picked attorney not to include that issue in the report is an admission of guilt.

"The coaches played Russian roulette with the lives of those boys, and our son lost."

Kaleva interviewed 37 people, about half of whom witnessed the incident from beginning to end. These witnesses' stories were consistent, according to the report.

They saw Bowman slow down, and then stop as though he was trying to catch his breath during a conditioning drill at the end of practice. When Bowman collapsed, coaches believed he was having a seizure, so they monitored his pulse. He was breathing at that point, assistant coach Cy Murer told Kaleva, so no one started CPR.

After a minute or two, Bowman's jaw locked and he obviously was no longer breathing. Coaches then began CPR. They were relieved by a security guard and an adult bystander, who continued CPR until paramedics arrived.

Paramedics used a resuscitation bag with oxygen and used an automated external defibrillator (AED) because Bowman had no pulse. They shocked him four times before his pulse returned; once he was stable, they loaded him onto ALERT helicopter and flew him to Kalispell Regional Medical Center.

Fourteen people present during the incident didn't see Bowman's collapse or see enough to comment on the coaches' response, the report said.

Four people had a different perception of what happened; they said two to three minutes elapsed before the first coach reached Bowman. According to the report, these witnesses did not see Bowman stop running, so their testimonies were less credible than the version shared by the people who saw the entire incident.

The Bowmans disagreed.

"In order to reach her conclusion, the school's lawyer apparently decided to simply ignore the statements of three critical eyewitnesses," their statement said. "Those three eyewitnesses were kids who felt so strongly about what they had seen that they had the courage to come forward, on their own, and contradict the coaches.

"That takes guts. It also tells you that they are telling the truth. They had nothing to gain by doing that … just a lot to lose."

The Bowmans' statement also accuses Kaleva of trying to discredit a senior football player whose story rebutted the school district's version of events.

"In a bizarre attempt to make this witness disappear, the school's lawyer claims in the report that our lawyer [Dan Caplis, of Caplis and Deasy in Denver] somehow 'tainted' the interview of that witness with his questions," the statement said. "That simply is not true."

Caplis asked the witness straightforward questions, the statement said, "and when it became clear that the testimony was going to hurt the school, the school's attorney tried to interrupt and stop the questioning. The fact that the school's attorney would now try to explain away this witness by blaming the questioning shows a level of dishonesty and desperation which we think completely undermines her credibility."

In her report, Kaleva said Caplis "has a perspective to this case that is not impartial and certainly not appropriate for an initial interview."

Caplis objected when she tried to clarify some of the student's statements, according to Kaleva's report. She said he treated the interview "like a deposition, with Mr. Caplis making statements such as 'the school might not want to know the truth' in front of the witness. Unfortunately, his conduct tainted the interview and it was difficult to get much information" from this student.

Bob Bowman was at that interview and has it on tape and transcribed.

Varying accounts of the evening's events prompted Superintendent Russ Kinzer to hire Kaleva to conduct an independent investigation.

The Bowmans said her investigation could not be truly independent because she was hired by the district's insurance company.

"Any claim by the school or its hand-picked attorney that this is an independent investigation is nonsense," their statement said.

The Bowmans also called Kaleva "irresponsible and unprofessional" for concluding the coaches' response was appropriate without seeking outside support for her opinion. No testimony from an outside coach, athletic director, trainer or school official was included in the report.

"The fact that this investigation was biased and incomplete is also shown by the unfounded claim of the school's attorney that after our son went to the ground the response of the coaches was 'appropriate,'" the statement said.

"We believe she started with that conclusion, and then tried to manufacture a report to support it."

Two things complicated coaches' and emergency personnel's response, according to the report. The district did not have an AED on the field at the time, and the gates on the field were locked when the ambulance arrived. Assistant coach Trevor Bolivar told Kaleva his key would not work when he tried to open the gate.

No eyewitnesses said the locked gates hindered the ambulance's attempt to reach Bowman. However, if a similar incident should occur in the future, the gates could be an issue, Kaleva wrote. The district also should store and provide staff training for AED machines, the report said.

The report did find that the district allowed Bowman and one other player to practice without physical exams by a doctor, a Montana High School Association requirement for all student athletes.

In the past, turning in completed physical forms has been a somewhat haphazard process, Athletic Director Shannon Smith told Kaleva. To alleviate the chaos that ensued when students turned in forms in the fall, the district instituted "Jump Start," a program that encouraged players to turn their forms in early.

The program included a mandatory parent meeting in May, at which parents received student handbooks, schedules and forms. Smith did not know if the Bowmans attended the meeting.

He said he spoke with Jeff Bowman in July and asked if he'd had his physical yet. Bowman, who was in Oklahoma at a funeral, said he would get it when he returned to Bigfork.

At the Aug. 7 coaches' meeting, only about 12 football players had turned in physical forms or permission slips. Susie Hullett, Bigfork High School secretary, said she asked Smith not to let students turn in the physical forms to their coaches on the first day of practice, but Smith allowed them to do so because the numbers were so low.

He said he also told coaches kids without physicals could watch but not participate in practices. The district didn't have a roster of eligible players on the first day, and no roll was taken at practice to determine players' eligibility. Furthermore, Smith said, head coach Bruce Corbett was new to the program and didn't yet know the players.

According to the report, no one knew Bowman hadn't had the physical. At least one other player was practicing without a physical.

"It was a breakdown in the system, no doubt," the report said.

In Corbett's written statement, part of the accident/injury report he submitted Aug. 14, he said that he and Murer reminded players they could not participate in heavy drills or conditioning if they hadn't had a physical.

In an Aug. 14 interview, Kinzer told the Inter Lake that two other athletes who hadn't had physical examinations were allowed to observe but not participate at practice. Kinzer was not present when Bowman collapsed.

"The report completely ignores the fact that the school district falsely stated to Montana and the nation that all of the other kids who did not have physicals were held out of practice that day," the Bowmans' statement said. "That statement is absolutely false and misleading."

In a brief statement released Tuesday evening, Kinzer declined to comment on the report "out of respect for the family." He did, however, encourage those interested to pick up a copy of the report at the district office.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com