Teen Brooke Ann Coats Dies in freak bull-riding accident

A teenage bull rider died on Friday night after she was thrown from a bull during a rodeo in Tampa, Fla.

Brooke Ann Coats, 16, was participating in the Remington Rough Stock rodeo in when she was tossed off the animal she was riding and then kicked in the chest at least once while lying on the ground, local police said.

Coats stood up and walked out of the ring, according to witnesses and police, but later had trouble breathing and collapsed.

An off-duty paramedic tried to revive her until rescue crews arrived, which rushed her to Tampa General Hospital.

She died during surgery there at around 10 p.m., local authorities said.

Police said the incident appeared to be a freak accident, but an investigation is ongoing to make sure the rodeo organizers were not at fault.

Bull

"We are going to look into that and try to determine and make sure through OSHA and other govement agencies that all the permits were done and that there was no liability in the cause of death of this girl," Hillsborough Sheriff's spokesman Larry McKinnon told ABC News.

Coats' parents, who had signed a liability waver acknowledging the sport's risks, were in the stands watching the show when the incident occurred, Hillsborough sheriff's spokesman Larry McKinnon told the St. Petersburg Times.

Coats, an experienced rider, was wearing a helmet and vest during the event. 

Over the weekend, friends and family members created a small memorial in her memory outside the rodeo arena, and her swim coach at Riverview High School said the team would wear shirts to honor her.

"Brooke was a beautiful young woman inside and out," the coach, Nancy MacLauchlan said in a statement. "She swam, played tennis, had a great sense of adventure, and was a devoted friend….We will miss her terribly."

The rodeo's organizers released a statement saying they were stunned by the young girl's death.

"Brook was a favorite of the rodeo family because of her love for the sport," they said.