Concerned parents packed the Lake Elsinore School Board meeting Thursday night in response to the death of 12-year-old Yashua Robinson during P.E. class in late August.
That tragic day started out as a typical school day for 12-year-old Yahshua Robinson.
He was participating in P.E. activities at Canyon Lake Middle School when he suddenly collapsed and became unresponsive.
“We are scared for our children,” Cameren Wilson said. “No one wants to imagine dropping your child off in the morning and not being able to have that child come home with you.
The 12-year-old died on Aug. 29 at Canyon Lake Middle School. It was a scorching hot day, and his gym class was made to run outside for P.E.
“It just sounds like corporal punishment,” Xandrea Garay said. “These kids are in school. They’re not in the Army. It just sounds ridiculous to me and the more and more that we learn that he was asking for water, that he was begging for water, that he collapsed. I mean, it doesn’t make any sense.”
Yashua suffered a cardiac arrest and died as his classmates looked on.
“That could’ve been my child, that could’ve been any one of my children,” Katy Tinnin said.
Tinnin has three kids and knew Yashua and his family.
“The teachers that were responsible for this young man’s death, this 12-year-old’s life, are still teaching our children,” she told KTLA.
At the school board meeting, parents were asking that the teachers connected to Yashua’s death be removed from their duties and the young man’s collapse investigated.
“We’re here for justice,” a man who attended the meeting said. “We want justice to be served.”
A moment of silence was held for Yashua at Thursday’s meeting, with the board also releasing a statement that read in part:
“…no one was denied water during that outdoor run. When [Yashua] showed signs of physical distress, staff took prompt action to attend to [him] and called emergency services.”
Detectives with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department are looking into the 12-year-old’s death and there were reports that there were legal investigators for the Robinson family at Thursday’s board meeting, KTLA 5’s Rick Chambers reported.