After Rod Walters’ investigation into the death of Maryland football offensive lineman Jordan McNair, which highlighted the missteps of the athletic training staff, prosecutors are determining if criminal charges may be applicable.
The report — released on Friday after a three-month investigation — contains multiple pages of redacted material. The information provided to the public shows that university staffers failed to promptly diagnose McNair’s heatstroke or provide the correct treatment, and that they didn’t follow the university’s emergency action plan.
As a result, state prosecutors are requesting a full version of Walters’ report, without redactions, to look for potential criminal charges, Prince George’s County State’s Attorney spokesperson John Erzen said Monday.
“The only copy of the report that we have right now is the redacted version,” Erzen told The Diamondback. “We need to get [the unredacted version] so that we have everything, and then we can determine from there what else we may need.”
[Read more: “A deep loss”: Following the death of Maryland football’s Jordan McNair]
Erzen said the state’s attorney’s office had paid attention to the details surrounding McNair’s death before Friday’s press conference, but wanted to wait until Walters had completed his investigation.
“You have someone in the county, who died in the county,” Erzen said. “There were a lot of questions surrounding everything that led up to Mr. McNair’s death, so it was certainly something that we were paying attention to.”
Walters’ investigation showed it took 34 minutes for trainers to remove McNair from the practice fields after he first reported cramping at the May 29 workout. McNair made the 19-second threshold for his first seven 110-yard sprints, but he missed the time on his last three sprints and needed help from teammates to finish the 10th.
One player told Walters that head trainer Wes Robinson yelled across the field to “get [McNair] the fuck up,” and another reported Robinson yelling to “drag his ass across the field.”
When McNair showed signs of duress on the field, trainers did not take his temperature or other vital signs. McNair’s temperature was only taken once paramedics arrived.
[Read more: UMD President Wallace Loh defends athletic department policies after Jordan McNair report]
Once McNair was taken indoors, trainers did not utilize cold water immersion, which has a 100 percent success rate in preventing fatalities if used within 30 minutes of heatstroke setting in.
Walters said the training staff was smaller than McNair, and they feared he would drown if they couldn’t hold him up. So instead, the trainers used ice packs and cold towels in an attempt to lower his body heat.
Cold water immersion tanks are generally included as part of Maryland’s setup, but they weren’t present May 29, as a shift in practice location late forced training staff to rush to set the field up.
It took about two hours from the time McNair said he was “exhausted” after his seventh sprint to arrive at Washington Adventist Hospital.
“One of the things that we certainly want to make sure we have a very clear picture of is the timeline of events that day,” Erzen said. “We want to understand who was responsible for different things. If procedures weren’t followed, why weren’t they followed?”
Erzen said there aren’t any charges on the table right now. The State’s Attorney received the report Monday, and the redactions make it hard to “put a timeframe” on the process, since investigators may need to conduct additional interviews, he said.
“We need to look at everything and then once we’ve done that, we can make a determination,” Erzen said. “And then certainly, we can let everyone know what decision we’ve made and why.”
Robinson and athletic trainer Steve Nordwall remain on administrative leave, along with coach DJ Durkin. Head strength and conditioning coach Rick Court resigned in August. The university said it’s waiting for the results of another investigation — initiated last month after reports of an abusive team culture — before it makes further staffing changes.
McNair’s family’s lawyers have filed “notice of claim” forms, which allow them to pursue a lawsuit but does not guarantee one. In August, President Wallace Loh said the university accepted “legal and moral” responsibility for McNair’s death.