A Nevada college has opened an investigation into a fraternity wrestling and boxing event that was shown on Facebook, after one student died and a second was in critical condition after being “placed in a chokehold” in the ring, WTVR-TV reports.
Jeremy Jackson, 19, of Harlan, West Virginia, died on Feb. 12 at Steward Medical Center in Maryland, less than 24 hours after he was reportedly “placed in a chokehold by two members of Theta Delta Chi fraternity” following an “Interfraternity Advisory Board Wrestling & Boxing Event” at Nevada State College in Reno, the Reno Gazette-Journal reports.
“They proceeded to put him in a chokehold,” college spokeswoman Vanessa Rios told the newspaper.
The student body president, Jonny Calixte, told the Gazette-Journal that those involved in the incident “have been suspended indefinitely from all athletic activities.”
“We are particularly saddened by this sad and tragic incident,” Rios told the newspaper, adding that an investigation into Jackson’s death has already been opened.
In a statement to Fox News, Mark Conly, former president of the International Wrestling Federation, said wrestling matches or the showing of “were strictly prohibited” under that federation’s rules. “Typically it would be against our regulations to use a chokehold as a form of holding. That is the rule we would have in our code. But wrestling is a voluntary sport,” he said.
Cases such as this one “are unfortunately not isolated to any specific event,” Conly added. “They happen all the time throughout the world, and there is a significant rise in the percentage of fighters dying or injuring themselves while competing in MMA, plus other combat sports such as boxing, rugby and even mixed martial arts.”
Calls to Nevada State College were not immediately returned.
Jordan Goldman, who is Jackson’s brother-in-law, told Fox News that Jackson, an airman and wrestling coach in the Air Force, excelled academically and was an “exceptional athlete” who had been wrestling since elementary school.
“I just can’t believe he has passed away. The first thing I was doing when I heard the news was calling his co-workers at the air force, and saying I hope everything is going to be all right,” Goldman said. “He’s a fighter. He’s never given up on anything. He was one of those people who believed in everybody and wanted everybody to believe in themselves. He was very ambitious. He could have gone any direction, but he decided to follow his passions.”
According to Goldman, Jackson competed in a PSA called “10K Soldier” in 2018 for “the Salvation Army.”
“He was very coachable. He was the kind of person that you could have him in the ring with a grown man and he’d be able to tell him everything he didn’t know. That’s how he was. He just had that kind of personality,” Goldman said.
Calixte told the Gazette-Journal that he saw “multiple” videos showing the fight on Facebook.
When asked if he found out what had happened until after Jackson had passed away, Calixte replied: “I did not.”
“He was a very amazing and talented young man. Unfortunately, his passing was a result of a tragic incident he did not ask for. He leaves behind a big life-long void,” the president of the fraternity’s statewide advisory board, Tom Likurcek, told Fox News in a statement.
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