Texas Teen on Life Support with Severe Injuries After Playing 'Senior Assassin' Weeks Before Graduation: Reports
Isaac Leal was playing the game when he fell off the back of a Jeep and hit his head, his mother, Raquel Vazquez said, per NBC 5 DFW
"We're going to keep fighting for my son," Vazquez insisted, according to CBS News TexasA 17-year-old in Texas is fighting for his life after suffering a severe head injury while playing the "Senior Assassin" game weeks before he was due to graduate, according to reports.
Isaac Leal — who is a student and baseball player at South Grand Prairie High School — was playing the game when he fell off the back of a Jeep and hit his head, NBC 5 DFW reported, citing the teenager's mom, Raquel Vazquez. Arlington Police told the outlet the incident occurred on Sunday, April 20.
"Senior Assassin" is a game that commonly involves high school seniors and their classmates pursuing each other with water guns, or sometimes Nerf guns, in a bid to be the winner, which is the last person who isn't sprayed, a previous article by ABC-owned station WPVI noted.
CBS News Texas stated that participants have been using "a handful of mobile apps to track their targets." The outlet noted that Leal's classmates had been "armed with water guns" and chasing one another through the Arlington neighborhood.
Vazquez said she would be remaining by her son's side while he fights for his life at Medical City Arlington. 'I have not been able to go home because I can't imagine going home without him," she told NBC 5 DFW.
"They were playing 'Senior Assassin,' " she recalled. "He jumped on a young girl's Jeep as it was parked. The girl reversed and took off and drove for five minutes at a high speed to where he could not jump off. She hit a dip and that's where I was told, allegedly, he flew off the Jeep and hit his head."
Vazquez said that the family is hoping Leal can be moved to "a different hospital for different care," per the publication, but she shared that wasn't possible at the moment as he was "too unstable." "We can't even roll him in the bed without his vitals reacting," she said.
Security camera footage showed Leal standing on the back bumper of the Jeep, CBS News Texas noted, before he was ejected onto the pavement after the vehicle hit a dip in the road.
"Everything was planned out, but plans changed overnight," Vazquez insisted, per the outlet. "Nothing matters but saving your kid's life."
The Arlington Police Department told CBS News Texas that officers were first made aware of the incident on Saturday, May 3, when Leal's family "contacted us and officers responded to the hospital to speak with them." The family reportedly wants the police to conduct a criminal investigation, the outlet noted.
"In reviewing calls for service from the date the incident occurred, April 20, we learned that EMS [Emergency Medical Services] responded to the accident site for what was described as an unconscious person. PD [Police Department], however, was never dispatched and we were not notified that Mr. Leal's injuries stemmed from a traffic incident until we spoke with his family this past weekend," Arlington Police Department said in a statement, per the outlet.
Medical City Healthcare/Medical City Arlington said in a statement to CBS News Texas, "Our hearts go out to any family with a seriously ill loved one."
"If, for any reason, a family requests treatment for their loved one at another facility, we try to facilitate a transfer. It is important to note that transfers are dependent on the patient's condition, whether they are stable enough to be transferred, as well as the receiving hospital's capacity and willingness to accept the patient," the statement added, referencing the family's wish to have Leal transferred, the outlet reported.
"We're going to keep fighting for my son," Vazquez insisted, per CBS News Texas. "I don't know how to make it more clear."
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"Senior Assassin" has been surrounded by controversy in the past, due to the fact that some of the water guns could be mistaken for real firearms, the outlet reported.
South Grand Prairie High's principal told the senior class, "Students who engage in this activity on or around school grounds may face disciplinary action, including the loss of senior privileges," per CBS News Texas.
Arlington Police Department, the principal at South Grand Prairie High School, and Medical City Arlington didn't immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE for additional information. PEOPLE has also reached out to Raquel Vazquez but did not immediately hear back.
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