Arizona QB dies from accident playing cops and robbers game with teammates
On Monday, a small town in Louisiana mourned one of its own on Monday after Farmerville (La.) High running back Jaleel Gipson was taken off life support following a freak accident suffered during Spring football practice. At the same time, across the country an Arizona’s community was also forced to remember another football star, though this one’s demise may have been more preventable.
As reported by the Arizona Republic, Surprise (Az.) Valley Vista High quarterback Andrew Arellanes, who was slated to start in fall 2013, was pronounced dead early Sunday morning after falling out of a pickup truck while playing a version of motorized cops and robbers colloquially known as “Fugutive.”
According to the Republic, Arellanes was standing in the bed of a pickup truck with the vehicle traveling somewhere between 25 and 35 miles per hour when he fell out as the truck of “police” looked for groups of “fujitives” hiding from the teens in the truck.
“If we can learn from this, it’s that playing games with people standing or being in the back of a truck is very dangerous,” Surprise police Sgt. Mike Donovan told the Republic. “Being in the back of a [moving truck] is not safe.”
While there was little solace for Arellanes stunning and sudden death, the Valley Vista community was quick to reflect on the life of a teen universally recognized as a “good kid.”
“All I heard was positive things about him,” Dalvin Richardson, the school’s starting quarterback in 2012, told the Republic.
Added Arellanes girlfriend, Valerie Valle:
"He would always stick up for anyone, whether they were his friend or not, and he loved his team.
"He's always in our heart. I would just tell him that I love him, and that of course his family loves him. He loved everyone."
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