The untimely death of Terrance “T” Howard, a young Black college football player, has sparked accusations.
Howard, a 19-year-old athlete, died on Thursday after fighting for his life following serious injuries sustained when he was struck by a vehicle on a highway over a week before his passing.
Bishop Anthony Allen, the father of the deceased boy disclosed in a Facebook video on July 24, 2024, that his son was driving to North Carolina Central University when the sad incident occurred. He had just been transferred from the University of Alabama. The tragic accident, according to his dad, happened “right outside of Charlotte.”
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Bishop Allen stated that, although he was unsure of the exact details, he was informed that his son was going to render aid to the driver involved in the accident. Tragically, a car struck him from behind, knocking him about 30 feet. He added that his son “landed on his head.”
Knowing his son well, he did not doubt the scenario—since he always wanted to help others in need.
“He stopped and rendered aid because that’s the kind of person he is,” Allen averred and added: “Terrance was injured while trying to be a good citizen.”
The father revealed doctors declared his son to be “brain dead” and “on life support” and aid. This compelled his family to pray, hoping that “everything that’s been wronged will be right.”
Describing his son as a good person, Allen blamed “the work of darkness” and “not the work of God” for the devastating incident.
What happened to the driver of the car that reportedly struck Howard is currently not known.
On July 26, Allen requested help when he went live on Facebook.
“Right now we need your help,” Allen told his followers.
He further expressed his unhappiness about how the Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center was treating his son, tagging it as “a disgrace.” Allen divulged they were seeking options to transfer Howard to another hospital.
Howard’s father claimed Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center wanted to take him off of life support and cited hospital policy for such cases.
“We are not in agreement with that because we know he’s still here, he’s still alive,” Allen said in the video, adding that “a lot of hospitals are quick to pull the plug.”
He also opened up about the deadline that the hospital gave them, pushing them to set up a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to pay to transfer his son to a different medical facility. As of the early hours of Sunday morning, the $50,000 goal was almost reached on GoFundMe.
“We need him transferred…We have to move fast,” Allen stressed in the video.
Another video was shown by Howard’s father, filmed from his hospital room where they (his parents) were performing chest compressions on him. Allen accused a doctor of putting “something in Terrance’s IV to kill him.”
He claimed his son was “fine and stable” when they arrived at the hospital on Thursday. However, the hospital sent someone to Howard’s room to administer unknown drugs—following their earlier press to transfer him to another medical facility.
Making further accusations, Allen said: “They want him to die,” alleging again that doctors “walked away” when the family requested assistance.
“They turned off the life support,” he said unhappily and showed blank digital screens that were attached to the bed.
Separate videos from Howard’s hospital room were shared online by his dad. In one of these videos, his mother made a wild accusation against the hospital, claiming that they wanted to harvest the organs of Howard.
She alleged that the hospital intended “to kill my son because they want his organs”. Howard’s mother also accused doctors of “snickering and laughing” and refusing to offer them the needed help.
“They want his organs,” Howard’s mother emphasised. “That’s what they told me in the beginning.”
The family members were displeased with how hospital authorities and security officers handled the situation. They showed a video of many police officers entering Howard’s hospital room and threatening to arrest them for trespassing if they refused to leave the premises.
“They all participated in killing my son,” Allen lamented when leaving the hospital with his family. “They let my son die.”
He also claimed that his son had “a heartbeat” and was “breathing on his own”. Allen bemoaned how the police officers “ran us out of the hospital.”
Amid the wild accusations, the officials of Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center have yet to make any public statement.
Though the accusation of organ harvesting attempt has not been confirmed in Howard’s case, it appears most Black Americans do not trust the medical system in their communities.
The above statement was confirmed in a Pew Research Center study published in June. The majority of the survey’s respondents had a belief that the healthcare system was designed to hinder the health and success of Black people living in the United States.
According to the study, 51% of Black adults have a feeling that the healthcare system was designed to hold back Black people to a great extent or some extent.
It also found that 78% of Black adults believe that medical researchers experiment on Black people without their knowledge or consent, with 55% believing such experiments occur today.
“Trust is hard to gain and easy to lose,” said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, a researcher behind the study.
“While there’s been enormous progress in putting in systems to make sure people are treated fairly, as well as prevent inappropriate research on people without their consent, people still are distrustful, and they’re distrustful because of the way the system continues to treat people in disparate ways.”
