NJ Congressional Delegation Joins Smith’s Fight For Braeden Bradforth

Joanne Atkins-Ingram, center, her attorney, Jill E. Green, and Congressman Chris Smith, held a press conference on April 7, to demand an independent investigation into the death Braeden Bradforth, Atkins-Ingram’s son.

New Jersey’s 11 Democrat members of the House of Representatives joined the delegation’s sole Republican, Congressman Chris Smith, this week in the battle to achieve justice for Braeden Bradforth, the 19 year old Neptune, NJ football player who died suddenly at Garden City Community College in Garden City, Kansas last August.

The 12 members of Congress jointly signed a letter to Ryan Ruda, president of the college, demanding an independent investigation into the young Monmouth County man’s death.

Bradforth died on August 1, 2018 following a football practice on his second day on the GCCC squad. The team’s coach, Jeff Sims, attributed Bradforth’s death to a blood clot. The local medical examiner ruled the cause of death extreme heat stroke. The college administration destroyed surveillance video.

Ruda has been cruelly toying with Braeden’s mother, Joanne Atkins-Ingram; promising her answers and then repeatedly withholding information. Ruda agreed to meet with Atkins-Ingram and Congressman Smith to disclose the results of the schools internal investigation and then reneged on his promise of transparency.

In the letter to Ruda, the NJ Members of Congress stated that “on behalf of Braeden’s surviving family members and friends from our State, the entire New Jersey delegation joins in the request for an external, independent investigation into this tragedy.”

“We want a meeting between President Ruda and Ms. Atkins-Ingram to take place, but for that to happen there must be complete transparency by the school where she can receive answers to all her questions about her son’s death,” Smith said. “It is astonishing to me that nearly nine months after Braeden’s death, Joanne has not been informed of what exactly happened to her son on the night of August 1.”

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During a press conference with Atkins-Ingram and her attorney, Jill E. Green on April 7, Congressman Smith said that Ruda’s evasive behavior “begs the questions of a cover-up” into the circumstances that resulted in Bradforth’s death.

Smith first wrote Ruda on March 22 to demand transparency and an independent investigation into Braeden’s death.