Indiana teen fatally hurt when basketball backboard hits him

GRANGER, Ind. – Authorities say a 14-year-old boy was fatally injured when a basketball backboard fell on him at his family’s northern Indiana home.

St. Joseph County police say Nolan Gerwels was playing Friday evening with a younger sibling on an indoor court in the South Bend suburb of Granger when the rim, backboard and supporting bracket came out of the wall and fell on him. Police say Nolan suffered apparent head injuries and was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Margaret Gerwels says her son was an honours student at middle school who loved sports and hoped to make the freshman basketball team this coming school year at Marian High School in Mishawaka.