IRVING — Dallas Cowboys special teams coach Joe DeCamillis and rookie kicker David Buehler were among the 12 injured Saturday when the roof of the team’s air-supported practice facility collapsed as a strong thunderstorm rolled through the area.
All 12 were treated at area hospitals, included Baylor University Medical Center and Parkland Memorial Hospital.
“Most of the injured had minor cuts and bruises, although two or three with serious injuries were taken to trauma centers,” a spokesman for the Irving Police Department said. “None are life-threatening.”
Irving rescue personnel place a neck brace on DeCamillis before taking him away in a stretcher from the main office building of team headquarters.
Roughly 70 people, including players, coaches and staff members, were in the building when it collapsed. Team owner Jerry Jones was at the Kentucky Derby on Saturday.
Cowboys spokesman Rich Dalrymple said four staff members were hospitalized with injuries. All the players and coaches were accounted for, he said.
The storm shut down electricity in the Cowboys office building.
The team was in the second day of a three-day rookie minicamp when the storm hit. It forced the team from its outdoor practice field into the indoor facility.
Twenty-seven players attended the rookie camp, including the team’s 12 draft picks and a handful of undrafted free agents and veterans. None of the team’s high-profile players were in attencance.
Buehler told the San Antonio Express-News that he suffered a cut to his right knee that required a few stitches and “head trauma” when a steel pole hit him on the right side of his head as he fled the facility.
“I was talking to the strength coaches while the rest of the team went through seven-on-seven drills and I told the coaches that, having grown up in Southern California, this was the most rain that I have ever seen,” Buehler told the San Antonio Express-News via telephone from an area hospital. “Then all of a sudden everything started shaking and I saw the roof coming down.
“I thought I was OK, and then the steel pole hit me in the head. It was one of the craziest things I’ve ever experienced. Welcome to the NFL.”
Buehler said he believes he is the only player that was taken to the hospital.
“I think I got the worst of all the players,” said Buehler, a USC alumnus. “Other guys had gashes. When I got out of the building survival instinct took over and I crawled through some of the water. A lot of guys were joining in to help look for other (injured people). We are all blessed.”
Among those looking for injured were Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips.
“We’re lucky nobody got electrocuted because there was a lot of water in the building,” Phillips said. “A couple of the players have minor injuries, but they are all right. Coach DeCamillis’ neck got banged, but he was moving his hand and was talking.”
Immediately after the collapse, Phillips was seen directing emergency personnel into the building after it collapsed.
Linebackers coach Reggie Herring was seen limping in the team’s headquarters after the collapse.
“I’m OK. I’m going to pole vault tomorrow,” Herring joked. “Glad to be alive.”
Emergency personnel ordered all media and team personnel away from the area after it collapsed.
“The walls shook and the lights started swaying, then it came down,” said Dallas Morning News reporter Tim MacMahon, who was inside the facility when it collapsed.
Like Herring, secondary coach Dave Campo kept his sense of humor.
“The start of practice wasn’t exciting, but the end of it sure was,” Campo said.
“I feel like I was in a fight,” Campo added. “When it came down, I didn’t have much time to react. What scared me most was that my (32-year-old) son was in the building.”
The collapse of the building calls into question the safety of such facilities. The Cowboys are among several NFL teams who use indoor venues.
Source of Article:www.mysanantonio.com
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