Log hauled in drill falls, kills L.I. kid
THE SHINING promise of a new football season was darkened by tragedy at a Long Island high school Thursday when a log held aloft in a team-building drill fell and killed a 16-year-old player.
Joshua Mileto, a junior at Sachem East High School, was one of five players holding the 10-foot log above their heads when something went wrong around 8:40 a.m. in Farmingville.
The log smashed the 5-foot-6, 134-pound Mileto in the head, Suffolk County police said. Emergency workers took him to Stony Brook University Hospital where he died.
“This morning (my son) witnessed something that is going to stay with him forever,” Jamie Mendez wrote on Facebook. “It breaks my heart to see the pain and fear in his eyes knowing this could have been him.”
Terry Sorrentino wrote on Facebook that he saw players at the hospital weeping and pounding the wall.
“I have never in all my life seen such a sad thing,” Sorrentino wrote. “It was so sad that I can really not describe it.”
The incident took place during an off-season conditioning session for both the varsity and the junior varsity teams. Practice was to start Monday.
Suffolk cops classified it as an accident after interviewing the 16 coaches and trainers who were at the practice.
“He was always happy, always laughing,” Becca Stines, 16, told Newsday. “He put everyone else before himself and was such a good kid.”
Kenneth Graham, superintendent for the Sachem Central School District, canceled all school-related activities across the district for the day and made counselors available.
“The district is devastated by this horrific accident and words cannot express the grief we feel as a school community,” he said. “We extend our deepest condolences to the student’s family and friends during this terribly difficult time.”
Questions began emerging about whether the drill was appropriate at the high school level.
The Navy SEALs use a similar drill in their famously tough training course, which involves carrying the log with their arms extended over a sand berm.
While a spokeswoman for the school said that drill has been used “commonly” at Sachem East, six New York football coaches with more than 100 years of combined experience told the Daily News they had never seen it and wouldn’t use it.
“I’ve never heard of it,” said Don Santini, a coach for 37 years and former president of the state High School Coaches Association. “I don’t even know why I would have the players do such a thing.”
Added retired coach George Mangicaro, who ran the team at Liverpool High School north of Syracuse for 23 years, “I’ve never heard of it. I’ve never used it. You can build team camaraderie, but you can’t sacrifice safety.”
Anita Raum’s son also witnessed the tragedy.
“This is beyond the WORST thing that could happen to our Football family and community,” she wrote on Facebook.
At a memorial at the Farmingville firehouse, players and their families gathered to mourn Mileto’s loss. In addition, a Joshua Mileto Memorial FundSachem GoFundMe page has been set up at https://www.gofundme.com/joshua-mileto-memorial-fundsachem.