Plastic Gatorade Bottle Knocks a HS FB Player out

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Plastic Sports-drink Bottle Knocked a High School Football Player Unconscious

Freak accident knocks out teen

BY JANICE MORSE | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

MONROE – A freak accident with a nearly-empty plastic sports-drink bottle knocked a high school football player unconscious and put him in the hospital.

Braden McMonigle, a 16-year-old junior who plays as a receiver on the Monroe High varsity team, was in good condition Tuesday at Miami Valley Hospital.

But initially, paramedics who attended to him feared he had suffered a serious head injury, so a medical helicopter flew him to the hospital Monday afternoon, said Arnol Elam, Monroe schools’ superintendent.

The incident, which occurred around 3:30 p.m. Monday at the school after a team meeting, left McMonigle’s teammates and school officials stunned and puzzled.

“They were speechless,” Elam said about McMonigle’s teammates.

Elam said he saw the plastic Gatorade bottle that a teammate nonchalantly tossed over his shoulder. Elam was incredulous that the bottle – which had only about quarter-inch of liquid left in it – knocked McMonigle unconscious when it struck him in the forehead, above his eye.

“It’s so odd that that would cause that much damage,” Elam said. “He’s out there playing football, and we play some pretty physical teams – so to think that a Gatorade bottle could cause this, it’s just unbelievable.”

No discipline was anticipated against the student who tossed the bottle, Elam said, because there is no sign that he intended to hurt anyone.

Elam isn’t sure why the teen tossed the bottle.

E-mail jmorse@enquirer.com

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