Missouri football player Aaron O’Neal was not taken to the hospital immediately after collapsing on the field at a voluntary workout at Faurot Field on July 12. According to a University of Missouri Police report, O’Neal, who later died at a hospital, was put in the back of a pickup and carted over to the Tom Taylor Building across the street from the football stadium.
Assistant athletic trainer Alfred Castillo told police that O’Neal was taken to the Taylor Building so staff members could examine him.
According to Castillo, O’Neal had a pulse when they left the stadium, but was unconscious when he arrived at the Taylor Building. The police report indicates that O’Neal was in full cardiac arrest when emergency services arrived. The call was made about 45 minutes after the hour-long voluntary workout.
“We’re not going to discuss specifics of the events that day until our review is complete and that review is still on going,” said University of Missouri Director of Athletic Media Relations Chad Moller. He said there isn’t a timetable on the completion of that review.
Moller said they are also concerned with doing their part in the autopsy. “Part of what we’re doing right now (is) assisting the medical examiner’s office and giving them access to people who were there that day to help assist them in their search for answers, as well,” said Moller.
O’Neal was 19 years old.
