Law&Crime Sidebar - Severely Injured Teen’s Dad Reveals Shocking New Details About Campus Mystery

Episode Date: September 9, 2025

Jason Borden, father of Alabama high school football player August Borden, says his teen son’s skull injuries were so severe, he actually died for a few minutes. Mystery surrounds what happened to August outside the school earlier this month, but there have been allegations of a cover-up. Jason Borden returns to Sidebar and tells Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber the latest chilling details.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Download the FREE Upside App at https://upside.app.link/sidebar to get an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on your first tank of gas.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea, Alex Ciccarone, & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. We have some updates for you on the chilling case of 15-year-old August Borden, the young football player who was rushed to a hospital with life-threatening injuries. We have still no real explanation of what happened. It is very strange to say the least. But right now, we have some new information. We are going to bring back on August's father, Jason,

who has some updates of his own. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Okay, so we have a follow-up on this very, very weird, strange story that we covered a few weeks back. It's the case of 15-year-old August Borden out of Tuscumbia, Alabama. So on August 19th, August, a freshman, a football player at Deshler High School, had to be airlifted away after what authorities would later say was suffering extensive, extensive injuries. According to People magazine, a concussion, orbital fractures underneath each eye,

and a fracture in his skull behind his sinus cavity. Apparently, he spent hours upon hours in the ICU. He had to be intubated. Now, thankfully, he has been released from the hospital. We're going to talk a little bit more about his current condition with his father, see how he's doing. But of course, the question is, how did this happen? And as we last reported, the serious concern, is August doesn't seem to remember what happened. The circumstances surrounding this event, that is what's unclear. That's what makes this a mystery. Now, according to WAAY, August's mother, Kristen Van Devender, was told by the school that her son had sustained injuries from a traumatic fall, you know, maybe falling down the stairs or something like that. The reporting was that he was

found near these stairs. But the family seems to not be accepting that narrative. So again, we're going to be talking with Jason Borden in a little bit. You're also going to hear him about Drew. Drew is August's stepfather, so you hear all the pliers. Now, according to People magazine, the family has been told that medical professionals say that these injuries were not consistent with a fall. And again, we're going to bring Jason on in a minute because we had him on last month to talk about his son. Now he's got some updates for us too. But I want to share some new information as well since we last spoke. So first, on August 28th, the Descumbia Police Department announced on Facebook, After two weeks of investigation, the Descumbia Police Department has taken the case from Deschler High School

and has transferred it to the Franklin County Juvenile Probation Office. They are also receiving assistance from the Madison County District Attorney's Office. All of the subjects and witnesses, with exception of the coaches, are all under the age of 18, so that is where the case will have jurisdiction. Now, according to people, Madison County DA Robert Broussard has come out and said, we were appointed to go in and look at the matter, and that's presently what we're doing. He emphasized that he will focus, quote, on hard evidence of people who actually saw something or can testify. Now, it should be noted that even though Madison is about 50 miles away or so from the high

school where this event happened, this appears to be necessary because the local DA reportedly recused himself. Now, there may be some personal connection or a conflict. We're not entirely sure what that may be, but clearly the case has been trampled. transferred. W.A. F. 48 obtained a statement from Tuscumbia City School Superintendent Russell Tate. This is important. Provided a little bit more detail about what allegedly happened here. So this was apparently a letter that was sent out, including to the parents, quote, Descumbia City Schools understands that there have been many questions regarding the unfortunate incident that took place last Tuesday.

While we're limited what we can share at this point due to federal privacy laws and an ongoing investigation by the to Scumbia Police Department because they were handling it at the time, I am aware of the widespread public attention and will share what I can. According to supervising coaches, all players were walking from the wait room to the locker room after working out on August 19th. A coach was in the locker room to open the door and ensure supervision of the players when they walked in the locker room. All the other players and coaches were walking back with coaches intermingled with the players. When the incident happened, there were employees supervising the students. Employees at the scene immediately called not.

911 and implemented the emergency action plan for athletics. The first course of action was to ensure that the student was taking care of medically. The 911 Center advised the coaches to begin CPR. At no time was a pulse lost and the ambulance arrived approximately five minutes after the call came to them. After the student was stabilized, Descumbia City Schools began calling the parents of the student. Again, our first priority is to ensure the students' immediate medical needs are attended to even prior to calling a parent. While Descumbia City Schools does utilize security cameras, Unfortunately, there are no cameras in this specific location as it is located over 100 yards from any entrance area to the school.

After the incident occurred, we immediately began launching an investigation which included interviewing all known witnesses the following day. Due to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, we are unable to discuss the results of our internal investigation, which has now been turned over to the Descumbia Police Department, who will continue conducting the investigation into this incident. Again, this is a prior statement. We are cooperating with them in the investigation. We ask for the public's patience as the authorities learn more about what happened, and we ask that the public refrain from personal attacks on students, faculty, or staff,

as everyone is focused on understanding what happened. This situation has been incredibly difficult on the entire TCS community, especially our students and our employees. We are providing counseling for any student or employee who may need the additional support. Our primary focus on the day of the incident was to ensure that a student at Deshaal High School received proper medical care and allowed the investigation to determine what happened. Once the investigation has been completed and we understand we can begin the process to determine how to prevent or mitigate incidents like this in the future. We ask that you keep the injured student and his family in your thoughts and prayers as he continues to recover and that you also remember all of our students during this time.

If you're aware of any information that would assist in the investigation, please contact the Descumbia Police Department. All further comments regarding this investigation should be directed to the Descumbia Police Department. Then Robert Bissell, Bissell, director of federal programs for the Tuscumbia City Schools, told People magazine recently, quote, there's not a lot we can talk about, referred again to Tate's statement, and again confirm that there were no security cameras at the location. He further said, there's not a whole lot of detail out there yet, and that's kind of why people are concerned around here. They want answers. We're not ready to give answers. We don't have all the information yet. You don't want to do too much before all the facts are in.

You come down hard on somebody and you want to make sure you know what happened. Now, as you can see, this is a story that we're going to stay on top of. And I want to call out our sponsor, Upside, who helps make these episodes happen. Now, Upside is great. It is a free app that gets you cash back when you buy Daily Essentials. So I pump my gas, I can use Upside. I can use Upside. I get something in a convenience store.

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So to find out how much you can earn, click the link in the description to download Upside or scan the QR code on screen. But make sure to use our promo code Sidebar because you'll get an extra 25 cents back on every gallon on your first tank of guess. Okay, so let me bring back on to Sidebar, August's father, Jason, Borden. So happy to see you again, Jason. I mean, it's been several weeks. There have been developments. First, I have to ask you how August is doing. How is he feeling? What's the state of his recovery right now?

Yeah, absolutely. Well, thank you so much for having me on again. I did want to just also shout out your fan base and thank everyone for the emails, the text, everything that you've done, the donations. It means so much to me and my family. It means a ton to August. So thank you so much. It's our pleasure. We definitely wanted to expand upon this story, get attention to it. So I'm very happy to hear that you've been receiving that support. That's awesome. Absolutely. Thank you so much. As far as August's going, it is a long road to recovery every day. It seems like I'm getting a little bit closer back to my son, back to the son that I had the day before this happened. He's looking better. He's up walking around and talking. And, you know, that's important. But one thing that we didn't know last time you and I spoke was that August did technically die that day. We didn't know. No one ever told us until about a week ago that. that August lost pulse and had to be resuscitated, that he had no heartbeat.

It was never made clear to us. And that's a hard thing to, hard pill to swallow. The medical professionals, the doctors didn't tell you this at the time? No, never. We actually just saw August's medical report for the first time last Wednesday afternoon and read it for ourselves. It was never mentioned to us. How, oh my gosh, how long was he without a pulse? We don't know. They didn't say it. But it could have been minutes. seconds, we don't really know. But the fact is, is that this case is even deeper than it was last time you and I spoke because, you know, we're fortunate that he's alive. That's the most

important. But the fact is that my son did die on that school property on August the 19th at the hands of another student. Jason, just this medical report, did you learn anything else from it as well? Yeah. So, you know, at this point, remember, we've mentioned that the, in the past that the school told the police that nothing happened. My silly son just fell and tripped over his shoelaces and hit his head. We saw that medical report and it states on there that this is from, this is what someone at the school told the paramedics and they arrived. They told them that August had been acting strange all day. They told him that he had been throwing up, which never happened. Both of those things are not true. So why did the school go out of their way to tell this to the paramedic?

They also stated that August, the Friday night before, he played in a scrimmage game for football, and August was hit during the football game. His helmet flew off, hit his chin. He had a little scrape on his chin. They took him off the sideline. They did the full concussion check. Everything worked out fine. He was not put on any sort of concussion protocol. He worked out and practiced the following Monday, and he was in mid-practice on Tuesday. Had he been under any sort of a concussion protocol, he wouldn't have been in that situation in the first place. But they told the paramedics that this is probably what caused it. Despite the fact that the school official told me, this child picked up your son from behind

and squeezed him, knocked all of his air out, and dropped him on the ground. That is unbelievable. Oh, my gosh. And that's what I want to get into. That's because obviously we're still trying to figure out what's going on here. That's the big concept here. Going back to August, though, in his recovery, have they indicated to you when he might be, and I don't know, when he might be able to go back to school, when he might be able to go back

to his life in a way. Any indication about that? Yeah, we're, you know, we've still got several months' worth of appointments with specialists stacked up, both from a physical standpoint and a mental standpoint. At this point, going back to school is not really in the question. You know, we'll get to that when it comes. I personally don't. feel like him missing anything in pre-algebra is too pressing at the moment. But unfortunately, we do know that August will never play another contact sport again. And that, you know, that incident took away his dream. I'm so sorry to hear that because I know football was an important part of his life and family's life. I'm really, really so sorry to hear that. Does he, does he remember

anything, anything about what happened? Yeah, the last thing, you know, I've talked to him and I try to be, careful with my wording and, you know, I don't want to do anything that, as far as remembering, August remembers being in the weight room, which, you know, if you look back at the original report, what we were told is that August was in the weight room, they were lifting weights, and then they had left to go to their actual football practice down on the field, and the event happened somewhere halfway between the weight room and the actual football field. The last thing August remembers is being in that weight room, which, you know, that brings up a huge point that that email address that we set up, Justice Farrague at gmail.com,

we've received several reports there, several emails from people reaching out that claim to be eyewitnesses that have a new interesting theory and story that we have never heard before. And that theory is we have several people have reached out and said that this event didn't happen on those stairs, that it actually happened somewhere around the wait room, the entrance, the exit, somewhere around that area, and that several football players picked August's body up and carried him to that area where they laid him down and then called 911. Now, that is a new detail. That is something that we didn't get a chance to talk about last time. So I wanted to ask you, I mean, what are you learning? What are you hearing since the last time we

spoke? There has been some developments in terms of who's handling the case. Let me first start here. The last time we spoke, the police department had said they didn't have an opportunity to speak with August, has any, has any law enforcement agency spoken to August? No, they have not. And, you know, I did want to go back and just mention one thing that this is new information for you too. And this is about the Tuscambia Police Department, the original police department that was handling the investigation.

So if you remember, I went to them on August the 22nd and filed the initial police report. They claimed to me that, you know, they were told at the school. that this was just a kid that fell down and hit his head. No reason for a police report. That was August 22nd. On August of 26th, Drew and Kristen, which is August's stepdad and mother, they were speaking to the lead investigator.

And again, they've had this case now for four days. Drew asked the lead investigator, hey, have you spoken to the prime suspect yet? And remember, we're talking about the prime suspect because this is who the school told us on those reported phone calls, three hours after the incident exactly who did this to my son. Drew asked, have you spoken to the prime suspect? And he said, who are you talking about, Drew? And Drew, you know, named the name of who did this. And he said, no, we haven't yet. And Drew asked, why have you not spoken to him? And the

investigator replies back, and it's on a recorded call. He replies back, well, Drew, it's a complicated situation. Where is that call? Oh, we have it recorded. I have everything recorded. What do you plan to do with it? Right now, we're just holding on to it because it feels like, in my opinion, that this is something that's going to go far deeper than just getting justice for my son. I want to expand upon that because what do you think is going on? What are you learning more about authorities here? I mean, the case has been transferred to the Franklin County Juvenile Probation Office. They're having the help of the Madison County District Attorney's Office.

What did you make of that? Well, I'll tell you another fact that has happened since you and I spoke last. you and I spoke last. So on August of 28, this is two days later after the lead investigator told Drew they still haven't spoken to the prime suspect. This is a recorded call. The lead investigator reached out to Drew and said, Drew, you know, we're sorry this is taken so long. We've decided we're going to push forward with assault in the third degree to the minor. And at this point, we're like, you know, feeling two ways. Number one, you can see the pictures of my son, that is not what assault in the third degree looks like. It is absolutely assault in

first degree. Assault in the third degree is a minor misdemeanor, a slap on the wrist, a couple hundred dollars and get out there and win more football games. So, you know, I'm pissed about this. I call the lead investigator. I leave him a voicemail that said that we need to talk about the difference between first degree and third degree assault charges because it sounds like he doesn't understand the difference. To this day, that investigator still never returned my call. But we did at least have that closure that, okay, they're working with us now. They've determined that, you know, something happened. The story lines up with what the school told us, that someone else did this to my son. And they're moving forward with assault in the third degree.

This investigator said to Drew, how about tomorrow, which would be August the 29th, last Friday, how about tomorrow? I'll come by. We'll go over the details. I'll meet. with you and Kristen and we'll discuss everything. That day, totally ghosted. And we found out, just like you mentioned, that the case is being turned over to an entirely different jurisdiction two hours away. And have you spoken to these new agency or either of the new agencies that are assisting in this investigation? Yeah, we have. I spent about two hours with the Madison district attorney office last Tuesday afternoon. And we had a good conversation with them. We did find out that the news report went out a little early. Franklin is not involved in this at all. They did get

reached out and asked to be a part of it. And they politely declined. So it is just strictly with Madison district attorney office. Okay. That's good to know. That's good to know. Do you know why it was transferred? There was reporting about some sort of conflict of interest. Do you know what happened there? Yeah, I mean, I think there is a huge conflict of interest there. It appears to me that this is a small town where everyone knows each other. And we've seen from different judges and different police that, you know, they all say, oh, we're all too close to this. You know, this area, everyone, the district attorney in that area, his children go there. He donates money to the school there. The police, their children go there. The judge, his son is on the football team, right? Everyone's just a little too close to this area, which leads to a bigger question of if everyone is so close, if everyone is involved with that school, what actual cases can they work there? Because it seems that if you're that close, you just can't do anything, right? And that's a fair point. And now that this is now in the hands of Madison County,

that conversation that you had with them, and obviously you don't have to disclose what was said, but do you feel confident in them handling? this investigation? Yeah, as right now, I have no reason to doubt their, you know, the kind of work that they provide. I think we've got two things working for us. Number one, it's two hours away. I think that they're far enough outside that bubble, where there shouldn't be any sort of influence there that could lead to impartiality. The second thing working for us is that not to bring any, like, you know, not to make less of our own case, but we're talking about now an area, that oversees the second biggest city in the state.

It has nearly half a million population, and not to make any less of our own case, but they work with things like this far more often than what that small police force in Tuscumbia would do. So I think that that's good for us because we've gotten hopefully away from the impartiality, plus they know the right questions to ask. I think they're a little bit better equipped.

And did they give you a timeline of what they might be doing, when they might have an answer or no no just okay uh we're going to be working on it you can trust us and these things take a while so yeah but you know it goes back to the question of why did the last police report uh why did the last police force tell us that they'd made a decision we would be pressing forward with an assault charge like why at this point they told us that we're essentially starting over from scratch tomorrow um is exactly three weeks from the moment the accident happened And to the stay, the prime suspect has still not been in any way reprimanded by the school. They're still playing football every week, which goes against the school's on student handbook.

If two students are involved in any sort of physical altercation, it states right in their handbook that that child or either child is not eligible to play any sort of extracurricular activity, including football, for 10 days. And we have, you know, report from the school exactly who did it. So I don't understand like it's like they're just glossing over their own rules. Let's talk just a little bit more about the school and what you make of their response. Because the superintendent, Tate, said due to privacy laws, there's only so much they can say about what happened. What did you make of that response? Have you been in contact with him? Have you been in contact with the school?

What are you hearing on that end? Yeah, no, I have not been in any contact with the school. I asked for contact, and at this point, you know, it's very clear that this is a very one-sided investigation as far as the school goes. You know, they, to this day, this is, like I said, tomorrow's three weeks from the moment this happened, the school principal still hasn't had the decency to call anyone in our family and even offer a 30-second apology for the fact that my son died on that school property that afternoon. So no, I don't think the school is working with this. And at this point,

there's no reason to contact them. He talked about how, you know, you coming on here on sidebar, how it's helped. Unfortunately, I was just in CrimeCon and one of the common themes that we kept talking about was it sometimes takes a story to be out there, to spread, to get a lot of awareness for there actually to be changed, for there actually to be things that happen. Have you seen that here? Have you seen as this story has me? made waves in local media, online, have you seen a change in the response that you're getting? Absolutely. It feels like I'll be completely transparent with you. I fully believe that had it not been for this video that you and I recorded, had it not been for Katie Watson Hall, who has

been a huge advocate online for us that I've recorded a couple of podcasts with, had it not been for her. This would have never made it to mainstream media. It would never have the attention that it gets. I don't think that the school would have taken this any further. I don't think that the police would have eventually, you know, caved and transferred it over to a different department. So it's made a huge difference. So what, if people are watching this, what can they do to help? What can they do to help you? What can they do to help August? What can they help? Obviously, and I want to be clear, I know there was a concern about people online, maybe. targeting or harassing individuals that are connected to this case. That's not what we're saying

whatsoever. Sure. People do want to help in some way. What can they do? Well, number one, you know, I want to overload the district attorney office with as much information as possible. I understand that, you know, we've heard reports that the kids at school have been told repeatedly that they are not allowed to speak on this, which, you know, that's not legal. They, every bit of them have the right to say something if they saw something. I set up at this email address that we mentioned earlier, Justice Farag at gmail.com, and we're asking anyone.

I don't care if you go and create a fake email address and send us something from there. Those reports have been helpful. Everything that I can send to the district attorney office is going to help us. So continue to send those over. I'm asking you to not be afraid to speak up. I'm asking you that if the district attorney approaches you,

and ask you to step out of class because your name might be connected to this, I'm asking you to just tell the truth. And, you know, I did want to address, too, about the parent outrage, people in that community that feel like, you know, that this is unfortunate that maybe your child is in their senior year of high school, and this is problematic because now they have to walk through a metal detector to go to the football games. They, you know, there's extra police force president at school. And for that, you know, I'm sorry that that happened.

I'm sorry that this has to happen, but I'm asking you to please remember that August didn't choose this. August didn't choose to be injured. This happened at the hands of another student. If you're upset about that, you know, that it has to be this way now at that school, then remember the school had a choice to lie or to tell the truth. That is one of the things are the way they are now. If the school chooses tomorrow to come clean and tell the police exactly what happened, every bit of this goes away. It never had to be this way.

Jason, first of all, let me just say, I'm happy that you came back on. I'm happy that you came back on to talk about these developments. These are shocking developments, to say the least. Obviously, you have an open platform. We are going to continue to cover this case. I'm glad you mentioned, again, the website for everybody who has information to submit it there. And our hearts, our prayers, our well wishes are with August and the family, and you and the family. I know this is an incredibly difficult time.

I know he has a very long road to recovery. But again, we're wishing the best, and I look forward to speaking to you soon. Awesome. Thank you so much for having me on, Jesse. And that's 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 get your podcast. You can follow me on Instagram or X.

I'm Jesse Weber. I'll see you next time. You can binge all episodes of this long crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.