Student Dies on Running Track

A senior at Long Beach Polytechnic High School who had suffered from an irregular heartbeat collapsed and died Thursday while running on a track during physical education class, officials said.

A school nurse and a PE instructor performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Jayme Espinoza after he collapsed in front of about 150 students at 12:25 p.m. Paramedics rushed the 18-year-old to Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, where he died at 1:30 p.m., said Richard Van Derlaan, a spokesman for the Long Beach Unified School District.

“He was under a physician’s care for an irregular heartbeat, but he was recently cleared for participation in regular PE,” Van Derlaan said.

Espinoza was running with his weight-training class. Van Derlaan said that the student was not being pushed beyond his endurance and that school officials would conduct an investigation. A Long Beach Police Department spokesman said that the incident was considered an accident, and that they were not investigating.

In December 2001, a 15-year-old boy died during a PE class at the same school.

“My understanding is that the student in that earlier episode had a rheumatic heart condition and was taking a regular state physical fitness test at the school,” Van Derlaan said.

He said Espinosa’s death Thursday was felt widely throughout the school. “He was a good student and well-liked,” he said. “I’m sure there will be bereaved students who knew him.”