No charges will be filed after UNLV student died following a charity boxing match
By Amir Vera and Amy Simonson, CNN
The death of a University of Nevada Las Vegas student who participated in a fraternity charity boxing match has been ruled a homicide, but criminal charges will not be filed, according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
Nathan Tyler Valencia, 20, participated in Kappa Sigma fraternity’s “Fight Night” on November 19. Valencia collapsed after the fight, was hospitalized and died November 23, just four days before his 21st birthday, according to family attorney Nick Lasso.
The Clark County Office of Coroner/Medical Examiner said Valencia’s cause of death was blunt force head trauma and it was classified as a homicide.
“The definition of homicide is an act of a human killing another person,” police said in a statement released to CNN. “Detectives look at the facts surrounding the specific event that caused the death of the person and determine if there is any criminality.
“Although Mr. Valencia’s death is tragic, the circumstances surrounding his death are not criminal and no charges will be filed,” the statement said.
Valencia, a junior kinesiology major, had no boxing experience prior to taking part in the off-campus charity bout, Lasso said. Valencia was one of the fighters participating in the card’s “main event,” according to an online flyer for the event.
“But he kept telling us ‘no, this is for people who didn’t have prior boxing experience,’ because he never was a boxer. He truly was just doing this because it was for a charity,” Cynthia Valencia, the student’s mother, told CNN’s Brianna Keilar.
Valencia was a member of UNLV’s Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and not the Kappa Sigma organization that hosted the event, according to Lasso.
In a statement to CNN, Lasso said his law firm will conduct “a full investigation” into the promotion, safety protocols, officiating and medical supervision of the November 19 event held in Valencia’s hometown.
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CNN’s Amanda Watts, Melissa Alonso and Keith Allen contributed to this report.
