‘Could be Your Child’: Virginia Black Girl Dies After Collapsing at School Because Officials Refused to Perform CPR — Despite State Law Requiring Them to be Certified, Lawsuit Claims

Kaleiah Jones should have been in good hands when she collapsed in her Virginia high school hallway from a heart condition earlier this year. After all, Virginia state law requires all school resource officers and nurses — as well as teachers and administrators — to be certified in administrating CPR. State law also requires school officials to be certified in the use of automated external defibrillators, which are mandated by state law to be in every school. But despite the law, several teachers, administrators, a school resource officer and a nurse stood around the 16-year-old Black girl for 16 minutes, neglecting to perform CPR other than the school cop conducting chest compressions for only 17 seconds.  Kaleiah Jones, 16, collapsed at her high school from a heart condition but school staff stood around and did nothing despite a state law requiring them to be CPR-certified. (Photo: Family of Kaleiah Jones) As a result, Jones ended up dying, according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed last week, accusing the school staff at Menchville High School in Newport News of standing by and doing nothing while the girl died. “The defendants gross negligence and willful and wanton negligence to Kaleiah’s medical needs...