Football Player's Skull Crushed in High School Campus Mystery

When I arrived in the hospital and saw. my son laying there like that for the. first time ever, my 15-year-old baby. boy, not being able to communicate with. him, I got angry and I wanted answers. >> What exactly happened to a 15-year-old. freshman out of Alabama who's recovering. from extensive injuries to his face, skull, and brain? That's the question we. can't figure out. Is there. miscommunication? Is all the information. being revealed? Are they being accurate? Who's being told what? We are going to. bring on the father of this young boy to. hopefully get some answers and see how.

August Bordon is doing right now. Welcome to Sidebar presented by Law and. Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. We're going to Tuscumbia, Alabama. It is. there that a 15-year-old is recovering. from skull and orbital fractures and a. concussion. He was apparently. unconscious for 2 days. And while. physicians have indicated that this boy, August Bordon, is expected to recover, that there are no signs of permanent. brain damage. Thank goodness, these are. horrific, horrific injuries. So, the.

natural question is what happened? That. is not clear. The Tumbia Police. Department released a statement on. August 23rd and it reads, "The Tumbia. Police Department is aware of the recent. incident at Dler High School involving a. 15-year-old in her community. We. understand there are many questions and. concerns being shared and we want to. assure you that this matter is being. taken very seriously. Our investigators. are actively reviewing all available. information and evidence. Because this. is an ongoing investigation, specific.

details cannot be released at this time. However, please know that our priority. is to ensure a thorough and fair process. while protecting the privacy and. well-being of those involved. We. appreciate the community's patience and. trust as we work diligently to determine. the facts. when we're able to provide. further updates, we will share them. here. So, what exactly does that mean? Well, I'm going to bring on August's. father in a little bit to see how August. is doing and see what he's hearing about. what may have happened to his son. But. even before we do that, here is what we. seem to know so far based on the current.

reporting that on August 19th August, a. freshman and football player was. airlifted after being hurt at Dashler. High School. This is according to WAFF. and WAWY. And also apparently according. to WAY, August mother, Kristen Van. Devender, was told by the school that. her son had sustained injuries from a. quote traumatic fall and when she saw. him, he was covered in blood. But it. seems that she and August father may not. be buying that. Reportedly saying that. August was found at the top of the.

stairs, not the bottom, near a main. entrance to the school. With her adding, they tried to brush it under the rug. we. feel. Again, we're going to talk to his. father in a minute, but in a recent. post, August stepfather, Drew Van. Devender, wrote, "This has been an. extremely difficult week for our. family." August sustained skull. fractures and lost consciousness for. almost 2 days. From one parent to. another, you don't know fear until you. see your son flown by air evac to a. hospital hours away. We still have no. real details of the incident and would.

just like answers. Please message. Kristen Mance, Van Devender, or myself. if you or your child has any. information. There is also an update. that August is home and recovering. UAB. doctors say he should have full brain. function within the next 2 weeks. He is. progressing well. He still has a few. trips back to UAB for the facial. fractures once the swelling subsides. Thank you all for your prayers and. concerns. I wasn't trying to start a. revolution. I just wanted to get answers. as any parent would. Also, it should be. noted that per reporting from KBTX,

August mom and stepdad say he never. received CPR before he was airlifted to. the hospital. Now, the mayor of. Tuscumbia, William Foster, said in his. own statement that quote, "Our first. priority was to get the young man the. medical attention he needed as quickly. as possible. On this, our first. responders and medical professionals. appear to have done excellent work with. a serious injury, and I'm happy to. report the young man was discharged and. is now recovering at home." The mayor. added that August could not remember. details of the event, calling his. recollection scant and that he describes. Tuesday as a blackout. Quote, "The.

initial 911 call was a medical call. It. was not a criminal call. The initial. report was that August fell. Some have. said he fell off the bleachers. Some say. down some stairs in a building. Some. have said he fell down some stairs. outside a building. As you can see, there are a lot of different stories and. the stories differ even within those who. were there when August got hurt." Foster. added that they will quote get to the. bottom of this and quote until further. notice let us please lift up August and. his family in positive thoughts and. healing prayers. Now, the Tuscumbia City. Schools also said on Monday, August 25th.

that they were cooperating with the. Tuscumbia City Police Department on the. incident that happened on August 19th, 2025. We continue to pray for the. student who was injured and their. family. We ask that you continue to lift. them up in prayers as well. Now, speaking of prayer, there is a prayer. vigil that has been set up uh for August. 30th. There is a Facebook group for it. and it says, quote, "We will meet at the. waterfall and come together and pray for. August Bordon, a freshman at Dashler. High School. And since yellow is his. favorite color, we should all do it for.

August. And if you don't have anything. yellow, then wear Dashler attire for. him. Please invite anyone you know that. would like to come and pray with us for. August." You know, obviously, as I'm. talking about this, I can't help but. wonder, you know, potential litigation. that could result. We actually talk. about that a lot here on Sidebar. Litigation lawsuits. You know who are. experts in litigation, by the way, and. personal injury? Morgan and Morgan, our. sponsor. America's largest injury law. firm. You know why they're so big? Because they win a lot. They have. recovered over $25 billion for more than. $500,000 clients. In the past few.

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you're injured, you can easily start a. claim at forthepeople.com/lcsidebar. by clicking the link below or scanning. the QR code on screen. Now, talking about what an impact this. boy has, a close friend told KBTX, quote, "Everybody loves August. August. is the type of person like if you need. something, he's got you. If you need a. dollar in the lunch line and you don't. have it, oh, here's two bucks. Go buy. yourself a drink." He's the kid that. everyone should want to be friends with.

So, as you can see, this is very. strange, right? And to make matters even. stranger, there is reporting from 18/19. news about potentially this resulting. from an altercation or scuffle with. another student. So that leads to. questions. Is there a miscommunication? Are there inconsistent statements? Is. everything being revealed the correct. way? What is going on here exactly? Now, real quick before we go to this. interview with August Father, Jason, um, we mention the name of somebody who may.

have information in this case. At this. point, we just don't want to identify. them just yet. So, we're going to bleep. it. We're going to bleep their name uh, at this point in time. That may change. in the future, but just a heads up. Let's check it out. Okay. So, with all. of that in mind, I want to bring on. right now Jason Bordon. This is August. Father. Uh, Jason, thank you so much for. coming on. I am so sorry for what August. is going through, for what you're going. through, what the family is going. through. I know this is an incredibly. difficult time. It's not easy talking. about this, but we obviously have a lot.

of questions about what's going on. First question, how's August doing? >> Yeah, you know, and thank you for having. me on. Um, you know, it's very important. that we get this message out and I know. that we've been um, you know, all over. the news. It's wild just in a couple of. days how it's gone from a couple of. Facebook posts to actually a global. reach now, which is just insane the. amount of growth. But, you know, as far. as August goes, he's he's doing okay. I. think that, you know, overall he's going. to have a lot of long-term trauma to. deal with. Um, the good news is is that.

from a a brain standpoint, he's seems to. be making a recovery. He did suffer a. concussion, but they're not seeing any. any signs of anything that was going to. cause any kind of long-term uh trauma to. the brain, which is great. That's hard. to say because we don't, you know, the. brain's a funky thing. You don't know. how what's going to happen 20 years from. now whenever things pop up. >> What is that road to recovery look like? Does it require what kind of, you know, certain treatment, I mean, surgeries? Is. he going to make it back to school in. the next few months? I mean, have they. given you an idea about what he should.

expect? >> Yeah. So, you know, there are going to. be a lot of follow-up appointments. We've got a ton of different specialists. out there that we've got to go see. within the coming months. We've got. appointments set up about his face. because remember right now he has a a. fractured skull. He has still has two. broken orbital bones beneath his eye. sockets. And then there's just going to. be some long-term stuff that he's got to. deal with about his brain. Like, you. know, it's great they let us go from the. hospital because they said, you know, as. far as we can tell, everything looks. okay that we feel well enough to release.

him back into your care. Um, but there's. still going to be a ton of follow-up. appointments with neurologists for a. very long time. >> It's awful. Um, how's how are you and. the family doing through all this? >> Um, you know, we're hanging in there. I. mean, we're we're remembering and and. having to remind ourselves that this is. about August. Um, there's But, you know, I'd be lying if I said that we're not. frustrated. We're we're angry. Um, we we. want some answers. And that's what I. wanted to get uh I wanted to talk about.

particularly particularly in this case. So first of all to be clear has August. been able to tell you or law enforcement. what happened? Has he even been. interviewed by law enforcement at this. point? >> Uh no he's not been interviewed by law. enforcement at this point. Um we've. asked August on our own and he's telling. us that he doesn't remember anything and. I have no reason to doubt that. The law. enforcement currently their spin is that. they want to talk to August and they. can't really move forward until they.

talk to August. And that sounds a little. weird to me because let's just imagine. that hypothetically, I don't study law, I don't understand all that, but just. tell me this. Let's just say worst case. scenario that August didn't pull. through, that he actually died there on. that sidewalk that afternoon. Would the. entire case just be completely thrown. out if August was unable to talk to law. enforcement? That the the firsthand. eyewitnesses that they have, the names. that they have, would all that go away. just because August wasn't there to. defend himself? No. The answer is no.

They would investigate it clearly. because but obviously when you have and. thankfully we're not in that situation. When you have a surviving victim in this. case, that account it becomes, you know, tantamount. clearly they can move. forward with investigating um you know. even without his statement which. actually makes me wonder have they given. you any indication that they've. interviewed witnesses that they've. retrieved maybe surveillance footage. cell phone footage have they given you. any indication about what they're doing.

right now? >> Uh no they've not they've given us you. know we asked I know that Drew August's. stepfather was on the phone with the. lead investigator yesterday afternoon. August's stepfather said, you know, how's everything going with the. investigation? He said, well, we're just. kind of, you know, it's it's a long. drawn out process. It's going to take a. long time, which seems to be common in. these kind of scenarios. It's not that. it necessarily has to take a long time, but I think that that's a tactic that. they use to draw things out. One thing. that was bizarre, you know, because if. you don't know, this has never been a.

who done it case. We knew within 3 hours. of the fall, of the accident, exactly. what happened and exactly who did it. school officials told us and I have it. recorded on audio. We know exactly who. did it. And we asked um you know Drew. asked that lead investigator yesterday, have you talked to student X, we'll say? And they said uh who? And he said, you. know, student X, the one that we've told. you, the one that everyone on social. media is telling you is exactly who was.

responsible for this. And they said, no, we haven't spoken to him yet. Now. remember, today is day nine now since. the accident happened. They've had this. for nine days and still haven't spoken. to this student X. When Drew said why, he said, well, you know, Drew, it's it's. a it's a complicated situation. >> Let's clarify this for a second. So, this idea of him falling down the stairs. or anything like that. >> You, for our viewers who don't know, why. are you saying that that that doesn't. make sense? I mentioned before about the. location of where August was found. are.

are and just to be clear, you're saying. the evidence that you've seen right now. suggests there was some sort of. altercation with a student and and. that's what escalated and led to. August's injuries. >> Absolutely. We knew that from the very. beginning. Um when I arrived in the. hospital and saw my son laying there. like that for the first time ever, my. 15-year-old baby boy not being able to. communicate with him, I got angry and I. wanted answers. And I know how things. work. I know how people's minds work. that they want, you know, you can't give.

them time to to cooperate on the story. I want answers immediately. So, we start. dialing phone numbers. The very first. phone call that I make, this is less. than 3 hours after the incident. happened. I was told that there was. August and another student. They got. into some kind of scuffle. We don't. really understand what happened. That. this kid picked him up from behind and. had him like in a in a tight squeeze and. heard him gasp and then August hit the. ground. assuming, you know, that he's up. in the air, that he fell and hit the.

ground. After that, I made a call to. another uh school official and just, you. know, hey, here's what I know already. This is what just told me. So, what else. happened? Tell me more. Um, this is the. that he told me. And. >> absolutely, he told me. He said, "Hey, you know, here's what we know. Um, August, they were they were kind of. teasing this kid. I don't know if I can. say why. I think it's all out there. People have, you know, talked about this.

a lot, but ultimately they were just. kind of teasing this uh this kid about. something at school. And the kid went up. behind August. He singled him out and. apparently there were multiple students. around at this time, fellow football. players. He singled out August and told. me that he picked him up from behind and. squeezed him so tight that August. started convulsing. Now, I don't know. Again, I'm not a medical professional, but I do have Google and I do understand. that you can squeeze someone so tightly.

that in 7 to 10 seconds, your lungs. can't produce enough oxygen to go to. your brain. That will cause you to pass. out. It will cause your body to tremble, to convulse and appear like you've had a. seizure or appear like you've just gone. limp. But he told me that that happened. And then this other kid, which he told. me his name on that phone call. I don't. know if he dropped him on the ground or. or purposely threw him on the ground. That start that part's a little unclear, but you know, with the type of injuries. that we're looking at, whether it was. malicious or not, it's still you almost.

took my son's life and that's not okay. >> Have you had an opportunity to speak to. anyone else about this besides any of. the students spoken to you? Has anybody. else corroborated what happened here? >> Yeah, we're getting a lot of feedback. We set up a just a private email. address. Um, justice foroggmail.com. Aug is in like the shortened version of. August. Justice foroggmail.com. Um, we set that up yesterday afternoon.

and I've had uh probably 20 to 30 emails. uh coming in from students. We we told. them, hey, if you're scared, just create. a fake email address. Just let us know. what happened. And I can tell you that. skimming through those emails, the story. is exactly the same amongst dozens of. people. >> Couple things here. Did August, was he. able to tell you the last thing that he. does remember? And has he ever had any. conflicts with anyone in this school, particularly this student that you're. mentioning?

>> Yeah. No, August hasn't told me. Um, you. know, I think that from what we've. gathered so far that he remembers being. at school. he remembers doing his. weightlifting and then everything right. now is kind of a blur and then he. remembers being in the hospital on. Thursday 24 or 48 hours later. So, you. know, and that's another thing with. brain injuries that's a very traumatic. experience. He may remember maybe. tomorrow morning he wakes up and says, "Oh my gosh, I remember everything.". That could happen. It may not. But, you.

know, as far as that goes, we don't. really know. when you're seeing these. comments, uh, these public statements. from the police and the school district. and the mayor, um, what do you make of. them? >> Well, you know, I I will tell you this. Um, I feel when I went on Friday. morning, and this is this is all over. Um, I did another podcast that you can. hear where I went into great detail for. an hour about the timeline of those. first 72 hours. But I went to the school.

and said, "Hey, I need a full. investigation. I want full transparency. I want to know exactly what happened. I. want written statements. And they said, "Yes, we're going to keep you in the. loop. You're going to know everything. that's going on as soon as we do." This. is from the school superintendent. Um, and by Friday morning, I still hadn't. got any response back. Which, by the. way, the the school principal still to. this day has never called and apologized. to me. She's never responded to my. emails. But after that, you know, I went. to the police station on Friday morning. and I said, "Hey, I'm here to file a.

police report and I want to press. charges for assault and battery." The. cop that I spoke to, he told me, "Hey, I'm very aware of the situation. I was. actually the first person to arrived on. the scene." He said, "Whenever I was. there though, what do you mean you want. to press charges for assault and. battery?" Because we were just told it. was just a kid that fell down. He said, "I went around and asked a couple of. people at the school. I don't know if he. was there for an hour or 15 minutes, but. everyone's story was kind of the same. that it was just, hey, we don't really. know. A kid just fell fell down and. tripped and hit his head. He told me at.

at that moment that because of that, he. never filed a police report that day. There was it was just an accident, right? So when I told him and gave him. this information, I put everything those. phone calls that I told you about where. I have a full firsthand breakdown, which. by the way, let me back up. Did tell me. twice now that there were two school. employees, two faculty members, two. coaches that were standing 10 feet away. when this all happened that witnessed. everything. Why their testament isn't. important enough to go forward with the.

case, I'm not really sure. >> This new information that you have, you. you brought it to police, right? like. and what happened? >> I gave them an 8 gigabyte flash drive. that had all those phone calls with the. name, everything on it. Um, and they. said, "Great. We'll be we'll be in touch. with you." They actually took me to the. school because this cop said, "We. thought this was just an accident, but. this sounds like there's a lot more to. it. Let's go down to the school. together." Very nice guy. He took me to. the school. We went into the SRO office. where they keep all the cameras. Not all.

the cameras themselves, but obviously. like all the footage is there, right? and you know he asked you know where's. the footage and the SRO which you would. assume is like the first place that you. would go if there's some sort of case. that needs to be looked into involving a. student incident like they should be. involved in my opinion I think that. that's probably a common thing because. even the cop chose to go there first. right. >> right. >> um he had no idea that there was. anything going on other than August fell. and hit his head so this is the first. time the SRO this is now Friday morning.

and this incident happened on Tuesday. afternoon. This is the first time the. SRO is even aware that anything else is. going on other than the kid just fell. and hit his head. That tells me that. that superintendent never followed. through. He told me he was opening an. investigation. He told me they were. going to look at the video, see if. anything exists, but that didn't happen. So, when I gave that cop that flash. drive with all those calls, ultimately, just to fast forward a couple minutes, just yesterday, an article came out in. their local newspaper that um the police.

said that the father talking about me. did go to them saying that I wanted to. press charges for assault and battery, but unfortunately, I didn't give them. any evidence. >> Huh. >> Now, I recorded this will come out at. some point. I recorded that conversation. with that cop, and I said, "Here's your. flash drive. This has the phone calls. this has this. naming exactly what happened and exactly. what did it and he said yes thank you. this is going to be very helpful for us. so tell me how exactly did I not give. them any evidence.

>> did you reach back out to the reporter. >> no I haven't yet this is I just found. out about this last night just. dumbfounded you know. >> this is I wish I had an explanation for. you I really don't um going back did the. did has the the mayor was public with. this as well and release a statement. Have you. >> eventually? Yeah. >> Have you attempted to reach out to the. mayor's office about this or in any way? >> No. I personally, you know, I've been. trying to do the right thing. We've. given them time. I went to the school.

first. I followed the chain of command. I went to the school, asked for. transparency. I went to the cops and. asked for help. I'll tell you this, I. just called that police station. They. told me on Friday that my police report. would be ready first thing this week. That I could just get a copy of it. just. my written statement right from Friday. afternoon when I was at the school. I. just got off the phone with them right. before I called you. I said, "Hey, I'm. here. I'm calling because I need to get. a copy of a police report." They never. asked my name or anything. She put me on. hold and came back and said, "Hey, sorry. We don't have a police report for.

you." And I said, "But you've never you. don't even know who I am.". >> Yeah. >> Isn't that weird? >> And what' they say? >> They said, "Well, what's your name?" I. gave her my name. She said, "Yeah, we. don't have a police report for you.". And I said, 'Well, I filed this on. Friday. How long does a police report. take? Because they set the expectation. that would be ready by midweek today, which I mean, it's Wednesday in my. opinion. That's midweek, right? She. said, well, they've just, you know, they. have shifts they work and and today is. the first day that someone's back. And I.

said, so I'm not trying to be rude, but. just explain to me, are you saying that. like the cop that I spoke to, he's just. been off for 5 days? She's like, no, it's just going to take some time. Okay, I understand there's a case, but an. initial report, just my written. statement, that should be done in a. matter of minutes, right? Like if you go. down to the police station and file a. police report, that's pretty common. scenario. >> Well, based on what you're telling me, I. I again, I don't have an explanation. This doesn't quite make sense to me. Um, this is obviously getting more and more. public. Okay. A lot of people are.

talking about this. People who are. watching this, how can they help? How. can the public help to get more. information and answers for you and the. family? What can they do? >> We've got the audio. We know who it is. Why they're not doing that, why they're. not taking that at face value, that's. beyond me. I don't understand that part. But what you can do to help, you know, number one, we care more about getting. this justice for August now than. anything. So, you know, we set up that. email address I mentioned earlier, justice for auggmail.com.

I'm looking for anything. I've gotten a. lot of anonymous tips that all the story. is exactly the same, but you know, we at. this point we need someone that's ready. to step up and help us bring this to a. close. I don't know if they if that's. what the holdup is. You know, these. kids, they're scared. I'll tell you. this, and I don't know this for a fact. This is what another parent just told us. yesterday. They said, "Hey, my kid was. there when it happened." And get this, they said that this kid, now again, I'm. this is not fact like this is just.

something that was told to me, right? This parent said that her kid witnessed. everything and that the school rounded. up the kids that were there and. witnessed everything, brought them in. the office and made them sign a form. >> Huh. >> I don't know what exactly the form is. I. do know that a minor cannot sign an NDA. without a parent or guardian present. So, if these kids, you know, we know. this, we've got firsthand reports that. the football players have been told that. they're not allowed to speak on this at. all. I've heard that the football. players are kind of split down the.

middle right now with half of the team. just wanting to win the games and that's. all that matters and half the team. saying, "Dude, I don't want any part of. this. Everybody in the school's mad at. me now and I didn't even do anything.". Right? So, there's a lot of friction. there, but we really need someone to. just step up and uh whether it's video, audio, anything that you got that we can. take to the police to get this buttoned. up. We're going to have to give them, you know, just an overwhelming amount of. evidence. And and if the school's. already admitted who did it and exactly. what happened, if that's not evidence, I.

really don't know what else is. Jason, before we wrap things up, because. I know you have so much on your plate. with this, um, has have the parents of. this particular student, have they said. anything in general? Have they said. anything to you? Um, what can you tell. us there? >> Yeah. No, I don't know them. I don't. know anything about them. I know the. name that I was given and that's it. They they haven't reached out to me. They haven't reached out to August's mom. and stepdad. So, there's not much for.

that. Well, listen, this is a really. distressing story. Again, when I'm. talking to you, I don't have, as I I. keep saying, I don't have answers for. you. It doesn't make sense. This is. very, very strange. I want to continue. the conversation. We're going to keep. our eye on it. We're going to see what. develops. You have an open platform to. come back on here to talk about it and. see how August is doing. But I'm very. happy to hear that he's going to be. making a recovery, that you're getting. this outpouring of love and support. I. understand August is a very loved. individual in that school, and clearly. you have such strong love for him, and. so does the family. So, I guess, you.

know, I I think that's the important. takeaway from this at the end of the. day. Um, so please send August our best. wishes. Um, a speedy recovery and we'll. continue the conversation here. >> You got it. Thank you so much for having. me on. >> And that is all we have for you right. now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank. you so much for joining us and as. always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you. should get your podcasts. I'm Jesse. Weber. I'll speak to you next time. [Music].