DATE: Tuesday, November 4, 1997             TAG: 9711040257

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B9   EDITION: FINAL 

                                            LENGTH:   61 lines

VIRGINIA - BRIEFS

Football player, 16, died from blow to chest, doctor rules

ROANOKE - The medical examiner who investigated the death of a 16-year-old high school football player has ruled that Danny Lee Cook was killed by a blow to the chest.

Cook died Oct. 17 of commotiocordis, a phenomenon that typically affects young people and can cause the heart to stop from even a minor blow, Dr. David Oxley said. Oxley said heart disease, drugs and alcohol were not involved in Cook's death.

Cook, a 6-foot-1, 250-pound tackle for Pulaski County High School, was taken from the field on a stretcher during a game against William Fleming High School.

The boy had been blocked on a second-quarter play. He stood up, then collapsed almost immediately. He was pronounced dead soon afterward at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital.

Nationwide, there were 15 high school football deaths in 1996, said Frederick Mueller, a University of North Carolina professor who tracks high school football-related deaths for the Football Injury Research Project.

Tech student rolled from her bed to fatal plunge

BLACKSBURG - A Virginia Tech sophomore who fell to her death from an eighth-floor dormitory window apparently rolled off her bed and out the window, police said.

Authorities suspect Melinda Marie Somers, 18, died Saturday morning after a night of partying.

Investigators said her bed was next to an open window.

``Sometime shortly after 4 in the morning . . . Mindy rolled over off of her bed,'' said Virginia Tech Police Chief Mike Jones. ``The window was at such an angle that she inadvertently hit the glass, slipped and went right out of the window.''

Somers died of head and chest injuries, said Dr. David Oxley, deputy chief medical examiner for western Virginia. NORTHERN

Fairfax man, 34, accused of assaulting trick-treater

FAIRFAX - A Fairfax County man was arrested Halloween night for allegedly assaulting a young trick-or-treater and taking candy from another.

Fairfax County police said 34-year-old John Randolph Parlette is charged with assault and robbery.

Several boys went to a house near Falls Church to trick-or-treat about 7 p.m. Friday, police said. Parlette and another person, both in costume, opened the door and tried to scare the trick-or-treaters.

Two 11-year-old boys then sprayed sticky, stringlike fake confetti, angering one of the men, police said.

Parlette allegedly grabbed a 13-year-old boy and began shaking him. Police said he also took candy from one of the 11-year-olds.

Parlette's bond was set at $10,000. MEMO: The Associated Press

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