According to officials, a 19-year-old collegiate baseball player died on Monday after a homemade wooden dugout fell on him in Harrisburg, Pa.
Angel Mercado-Ocasio, a Central Penn College student, died of a severe head injury that was deemed unintentional by the Cumberland County coroner, according to ABC 27 News.
Gerardo Diaz, Mercado-Ocasio’s coach, performed CPR on the student-athlete for more than three minutes before he woke up and was transported to the hospital, where Mercado-Ocasio spent two days battling for his life.
According to the publication, Mercado-Ocasio was helping Diaz and friends tear down a makeshift dugout after playing with the Harrisburg young international league squad at 7th and Radnor Sports Park.
The event has nothing to do with Central Penn’s baseball team.
According to The Kansas City Star, another anonymous individual was hurt in the event, and their health is unclear as of Thursday.
According to ABC 27 News, the dugouts were erected without the proper authorization and have since been removed, despite the fact that the squad had permission to use the baseball field.
Diaz told Fox 43 that they removed the dugouts after the city advised them to because they did not have a building permission for the land.
“I don’t want to be a knucklehead nor does anybody,” he said. “When they told me to take it down, I waited, but taking it down cost my kid his life.”
Diaz said the athletes were fooling around while they were trying to deconstruct the dugout.
“I tried my best to protect him,” he said. “I got mad at them, I told them to stop playing around but kids will be kids. I still feel responsible.”
Matt Maisel, the director of communications for the city of Harrisburg, said the city isn’t planning on taking legal action against the players or coach Fox 43 reported.
“Our Central Penn College family is devastated by the loss of Angel,” university president Linda Fedrizzi-Williams said in a statement. “As friends who have become family, we are mourning the heart-wrenching loss of one of our own, a promising young athlete who senselessly lost his life while helping others enjoy the sport he loved so much.”
