Attorney General Investigators Join Bucknell Freshman Football Player Death Probe

The death of Bucknell freshman football player Calvin “C.J.” Dickey Jr. has moved into a new phase of scrutiny, with the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office now examining what happened in Lewisburg. Dickey, an 18-year-old freshman lineman, collapsed during his first workout with the Bisons and died July 12, 2024, two days later.

The state involvement raises the stakes for Bucknell University and for public confidence in how the case has been handled since the beginning. In April 2025, Dickey’s parents sued Bucknell and members of its administration and coaching staff, saying the university knew their son had sickle cell trait from NCAA-required testing but did not have protocols in place to protect him. Bucknell spokesperson Mike Ferlazzo said the school had received a search warrant and was reviewing it. A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office said it could not share information because the investigation is ongoing.

That shift matters because the case is no longer only a civil dispute between a family and a university. State investigators can now press for records, witness interviews, and a fuller reconstruction of the July 10, 2024 workout that preceded Dickey’s collapse. The family has sought accountability and information about the workout video, events before the collapse, and interviews with athletes and staff, all of which go to the heart of whether training, medical supervision, and emergency response matched the risks of high-intensity conditioning.

The medical questions remain central. NCAA guidance says sickle cell trait can become dangerous in rare high-exertion situations, especially when heat, dehydration, altitude, or asthma are involved. The family’s attorney has said sickle cell-related rhabdomyolysis can be prevented if exercise stops when warning signs appear. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says rhabdomyolysis is serious and that early diagnosis and treatment can prevent death and disability. Those standards now frame the unanswered question in this case: whether Dickey’s symptoms were recognized and whether the response came soon enough.

Bucknell’s football program continued through the 2024 season, including a 49-21 loss to Navy on Aug. 31, 2024, even as the death stayed unresolved. For Lewisburg and Union County, the attorney general’s involvement means the case is still active, still deeply tied to campus oversight, and still a test of how a major university responds when a student-athlete dies after a workout.