NFL added to lawsuit filed by father of former player who killed 6 in Rock Hill

WSOCTV.com News Staff
·2 min read
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The National Football League has now been added to a lawsuit that was filed by the father of former NFL player Phillip Adams.

Adams killed six people at a Rock Hill home back in 2021. The victims included Dr. Robert Lesslie, a prominent York County doctor, his wife, two of their grandchildren, and two HVAC technicians. Adams died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

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In April 2023, Adams’ father filed a wrongful death lawsuit against South Carolina State University, which is where Adams played college football. His father claims the school failed to keep players safe from head injuries, leading to his son’s severe case of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The brain disease is known to cause aggression and violent mood swings.

A month later, our partners at the Herald reported South Carolina State filed a response to the suit that denies those claims. The university pushed for the suit to be dropped.

ROCK HILL MASS SHOOTING:

Now, a little less than a year later, the NFL has been added as a defendant on that lawsuit.

Adams played for the several teams in the NFL: The San Francisco 49ers in 2010, the New England Patriots in 2011, the Seattle Seahawks in 2011, the Oakland Raiders between 2012 and 2013, the Seattle Seahawks in 2014, the New York Jets in 2014 and the Atlanta Falcons in 2015, the amended lawsuit says.

Adams allegedly suffered head trauma while in the league, which his father said resulted in his CTE diagnosis and, ultimately, his death.

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The lawsuit alleges the NFL and its teams engaged in activities that were “detrimental” to Adams’ safety and knew or should have known it would “result in harm” to Adams. It says they further failed to “exercise that degree of care which a reasonably prudent person would have exercised under the same or similar circumstances.”

According to the lawsuit, Adams, who was 32 when he died, left behind a son.

Adams’ father is asking for damages to be paid to help him and Adams’ son financially.

Channel 9 has reached out to the NFL for comment.

(WATCH MORE: Phillip Adams, NFL veteran who killed 5 in South Carolina, known as quiet, troubled)