UNLV football player found dead at off-campus home

LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — The UNLV football player who died last week complained of chest pains the day before his death, according to a police report.

Ben Christman, 21, was found unresponsive on Feb. 11 in his off-campus home on E Gabriel Dr. in Las Vegas. Teammates came to the house around 10 a.m. after the senior offensive lineman did not show up for a morning football practice.

“We don’t know what’s wrong with him,” a caller informed a 911 call taker. “He had a lift today at 10 o’clock and he hasn’t been answering his phone. So, so me and my friend went to go pull up to the crib and, and he’s laying on his back and he’s foaming from the mouth and his fingers are purple.”

The Clark County Coroner has not provided an official cause of death but a report from Las Vegas Metropolitan Police stated Christman had chest pains the day before at practice. A coach conducted an EKG on Christman, which is a medical test that records the electrical activity of a heart to determine any abnormalities. A team cardiologist reviewed it and stated , “they looked normal,” according to the document.

Christman was last seen alive around 3 p.m. at home. A roommate informed officers “he just said hi and went straight to his room.” He was found 19 hours later when his teammates entered the home through the backdoor of someone’s room, which is across the hallway from Christman’s room. The door was cracked open and the lights were off. Christman was found face up on the bed, motionless with a purple face and hands along with foam coming from his mouth.

A 911 call taker informed the caller to put Christman on the floor and asked if there was a defibrillator available.

“I want you to loosen the sheets from the bed and than pull the sheets onto the floor. Don’t worry about the fall.”

The call taker provided instructions to start CPR.

“Come all the way up in between the pumps. We’re going to do this until help takes over. Count out loud and I’m going to count with you just like this,” the call taker said. The caller responded, “He’s breathing. He’s breathing but he’s foaming from the mouth.” However, the caller immediately responded that he wasn’t breathing and the call taker urged, “He’s not breathing so we need to continue with the CPR.”

Metro is on the line about three minutes into the call and asked if they should respond as well with the fire department. The call taker said yes because the call taker suspected Christman was dead and used the code number 419, which means “dead body” to inform Metro of the likely situation.

The call continued with the call taker offering counts to the caller until the phone call ended five minutes and 15 seconds later and police arrived to take over.

An obituary online stated Christman died in his sleep of natural causes.