Calif. University Sued for $10 Million

The parents of a Fresno State University equestrian team member who died after falling from a horse have filed a $10 million negligence claim against the school, saying their daughter was put at risk by the school's lack of coaches or supervision.

In addition, the parents say they are "very concerned" about apparent discrepancies in university reports about their daughter's death.

Shana Eriksson, 18, spent three days in a coma and then died last September after her horse spooked, whirled around and then fell on her during a trail ride with two teammates. The university maintains the accident was unrelated to any team activity and that Eriksson was riding at her own risk.

University officials said late Monday that they had only seen an informal copy of the claim and were not prepared to respond.

Eriksson's parents accuse the university of failing "to provide adequate coaching, instruction or supervision" of their daughter by allowing her to go on an unsupervised trail ride.

The all-female equestrian team is the largest in the country with close to 100 riders. At the time of Shana's accident, no coaches had been hired.

During the accident, the girls left the barn area and headed across a road, because their usual arena was being dragged. That was when they came across a herd of cows, which panicked the horses.

Shana's mother Karan Eriksson said that while looking into her daughter's death, she was "disconcerted" to find several versions of university incident reports, some of which exclude information that could cast a poor light on the school.

Responding to a California Public Records Act request, the university provided hundreds of pages of internal reports to The Associated Press.

One police report says that Kasey MacFarlane, who was riding with Eriksson at the time, told authorities, "We were walking by the cows because they were dragging the arena and we were told not to ride there for a couple of days."

Another draft of the same report, with the same incident number, date and title, says only, "We were walking by the cows," and omits the statement that they had been told not to ride in the area.

Public safety director David Moll said the first report was a draft that should never have been released. He said the report that omitted the statement about the arena being closed was the accurate copy.

The Fresno County Coroner's office has not released its report on Shana Eriksson's death, saying that the investigation is still open.

The claim comes on top of a recent admission that an assistant coach injected two horses with tranquilizers at competitions. The university said Monday it had not violated any rules but would stop the practice anyway.

The NCAA doesn't have rules about drugging horses at equestrian competitions. But U.S. Equestrian bans the use of tranquilizers before competitions, as does state law.

Steve Lyle, spokesman for the California Department of Agriculture, said it's unclear whether the state laws apply to college events and the agency has decided not to take action.

While Ms Eriksson's death is a tragedy, horse back riding is a dangerous thing, and anyone who climbs on the back of a horse is assuming a substantial risk. I do not see how Fresno State has liability in this accident.

From what I understand it is not uncommon for show horses to be "needled" before entering the ring.

Interesting... Sounds fishy though.

Either it's me or something is not right indeed... University is not telling exacly what happened; coaches were not hired when they were supposed to be there from the very beginning (since the days when the horses were "taken" by the University for the "classes"); someone (namely "assistant coach"... then where is the "coach" him/herself?) injected who-knows-what into the horses; the difference in the reports; the closing of the original place for "a while" (yeah... right) ... Holly Jesus, you people, what in the Heaven's name is going on in that University?

To me it sounds like a deliberate (planned) murder not an "accident"... Poor Ms. Eriksson.

and Little Fish in Pond

When someone is on an equestrian team they are supposed to be an experienced rider. Horses spook and spin all the time from anything the horse considers scary. A rider is suppose to be able to handle that. There is no need for supervision on a trail ride. I ride alone on trails all the time. I have taken many a brand new rider on trails and I have had horses spook with brand new riders. Most of them might end up on the ground and no injury occurs. The horse falling on the rider in the story makes that a freak accident.

There is absolutely no information that would indicate deliberate homicide. I do not think it is possible to create that accident outside a movie studio. It looks like that standard CYA on the university part.

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