Las Vegas (Associated Press)-A family lawyer for a University of Nevada student in Las Vegas fell to the ground after a fight in a brothers charity boxing match on November 19, a few days before his 21st birthday Passed away, he said his death shouldn’t happen.
“We intend to hold one or more parties accountable,” lawyer Nick Larsso said of an investigation initiated by him and lawyer Ryan Zimmer after the death of Filipino-American Nathan Taylor Valencia.
The 20-year-old Valencia has been hospitalized since November 19, as he fell while participating as a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon during the “Fight Night” of the Kappa Sigma Brotherhood. The Clark County Coroner’s Office stated that he died of head injuries on November 23 and the death was ruled as homicide.
The Las Vegas police said in a statement that investigators found “no information indicating any criminal conduct at the venue where the boxing match was held.” The department referred questions about the incident to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, which is the regulatory agency for “unarmed combat incidents and initiators related to unarmed combat.”
Bob Bennett, the executive director of the committee, did not immediately respond to the news from the Associated Press.
“We just keep finding safety failures after safety failures,” Lasso told The Associated Press in an interview with CNN. Zimmer and Valencia’s parents, Cynthia and Michael Valencia in Las Vegas. .
Cynthia Valencia told CNN that her son had no boxing experience before, but he wanted to participate because the event was for charity.
Lasso declined to comment on the Las Vegas police statement and said Nathan Valencia’s parents would not accept additional interviews.
“All the precautions that could have been taken seem to have been shelved,” Lasso told The Associated Press. “There is no reason for college students to confront each other. As a result, one of them may be seriously injured.”
UNLV principal Keith Whitfield said in a statement on November 26 that the campus mourns the death of Valencia and that the management plans to “review the incident and determine how to conduct such off-campus activities as safely as possible “.
A commemorative vigil was held on November 27, which is Valencia’s birthday.
The boxing match was held at the Sahara Activity Center off campus, a multi-purpose venue in Las Vegas. It is promoted by UNLV’s Kappa Sigma Brotherhood. The boxers were weighed on campus two days before the event.
Representatives of Kappa Sigma and the Sahara Activity Center expressed condolences to the family and university community in Valencia, but declined to comment on the investigation.
