A North Carolina high school football player has been charged with misdemeanor death by vehicle in connection with the death of a teammate who fell when riding in the back of his pickup truck.https://www.instagram.com/p/B1dRx_dpxWl/?utm_source=ig_embed
As reported by the Charlotte Observer, an undisclosed 17-year-old Mooresville (N.C.) High School senior was driving in the school’s parking lot during a football team service day when his 15-year-old teammate Gavin Sharpe fell from his tailgate. Emergency responders were called to the incident on campus and found Sharpe unconscious. He was transported to a local hospital and died of injuries suffered in the fall just two days later.
The Sharpe family has been stunned by the sudden loss of their teenager, a three-spot star — football, wrestling, track and field — and bridge builder of the football program. While a family friend started a GoFundMe account to help the Sharpe family defray the cost of Gavin Sharpe’s funeral, that hardly helps bring him back.
“He was an encouragement to his teammates and friends both on and off the field,” Sharpe’s obituary reads. “He was loved by so many and he will live on in our hearts forever.”
The GoFundMe account has already raised nearly $15,000 of its $30,000 goal.