Cause of student’s death unclear

Coroner’s investigators this week still don’t know why a 14-year-old Marina High School student collapsed and died during a physical education class Friday.

A Saturday autopsy did not reveal a cause of death, coroner’s officials said. It may take weeks or longer for further tests to provide more information.

The student, identified as John Rambo of Huntington Beach, was pronounced dead at 9:26 a.m. at Huntington Hospital, said Larry Esslinger, a spokesman for the Orange County Coroner’s Office.

Huntington Beach police received a call at 8:35 a.m. saying a student at Marina High School, 15871 Springdale St., started having seizures after lifting weights, said Huntington Beach police Lt. Terry Lindsey.

The boy, who is autistic, was in a special-needs physical education class that includes some weightlifting, said Marina’s boys’ athletic director Paul Renfrow.

“If he was doing any lifting, it wasn’t anything strenuous,” he said.

After school employees applied CPR, police and fire officials came to the scene and rushed the unresponsive teen to Huntington Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Lindsey said.

Steve Roderick, principal of Marina High School, read only a prepared statement about Rambo Friday: “A student of the Huntington Beach Union High School District developed a medical crisis which required staff to contact paramedics, who then transported the student to the hospital. We are not at liberty to provide any further details in order to protect the privacy of the family.”

A crisis response team from the school district descended on campus when the news hit, Roderick said later. They counseled students and faculty through hearing the news, and school psychologists are available to students who request their services, he said.

Mike Sciacca contributed to this story.