Ronald Donat’s longtime dream of becoming a police officer was in jeopardy.

The 41-year-old struggled to stand after completing a flurry of pushups, sprints and pullups in the notoriously grueling start of physical training that recruits call “Hell Day.”

“You are dead!” classmates recall a sergeant berating Donat, ordering him to sit on concrete at the suburban Atlanta police academy.

Donat, a Haitian immigrant on his third attempt to land a law enforcement job, assured instructors he wasn’t giving up. He managed to get off the ground and rejoin recruits in a bear crawl exercise. But he soon went limp.

One hundred minutes after training began that October 2021 morning, he was dead, according to records obtained by The Associated Press.

Donat is among at least 29 recruits who died during basic training at law enforcement academies around the country in the past decade, an AP investigation found. Most died of exertion, dehydration, heatstroke and other conditions tied to intense exercise — often on the first day of training, like Donat. Others died several weeks in, sometimes after suffering trauma during boxing or use-of-force drills or collapsing during high-stakes timed runs on hot days.

Experts and police advocates were surprised by AP’s findings — based on an extensive review of lists of law enforcement deaths in every state, workplace safety records and news reports — and said many of the deaths were preventable. No federal agency or outside organization comprehensively tracks recruit deaths, unlike officers who die in the line of duty.

“Training shouldn’t have one death, much less 29,” said David Jude, a retired Kentucky State Police academy commander and instructor. “To hear that number, it is shocking.”

Black recruits represented nearly 60% of those who died, a striking disparity given that federal data show Black officers make up 12% of local police forces. Many carried sickle cell trait, a condition most prevalent among Black Americans that increases the risk of serious injury following extreme exertion.

AP’s tally shows the deaths have grown at a time when departments are tapping an older and more diverse pool of applicants to address officer shortages. More than two-thirds of the deaths occurred since 2020.

A ‘heartbreaking’ string of deaths

A Texas recruit collapsed minutes after instructors denied his request for water, saying: “You can’t get water in a fight,” video obtained by AP shows.

An Arkansas cadet died after he was forced to run wearing long pants in the scorching midday sun. A North Carolina trainee’s temperature was 106 degrees an hour after his death, when he had no water breaks during an hourlong obstacle course.

Citing similar cases, one expert warned in a medical journal in mid-2023 of a “troubling spate of exertional collapse and death” of police trainees.

“This sad tragedy is preventable, but will not become so until our police chiefs begin to heed the message,” wrote Dr. Randy Eichner, a retired University of Oklahoma professor who has long studied exertion-related deaths.

But deaths have only continued to mount. At least five were recorded in 2024, including a New York City recruit who died of heatstroke, a Kentucky man who exerted himself during water-based survival training and a Massachusetts cadet who became unresponsive during defensive tactics training.

Police leaders say some deaths can be prevented through improved awareness and practices, acknowledging that the field needs to better screen for and accommodate health conditions that put recruits at risk and to rein in unnecessarily harsh drills.

“Not only are we potentially putting students in danger, but we’re also putting instructors in precarious situations where they may not know about the risks,” said Jude, an expert witness in the 2022 death of 38-year-old Jonesboro, Arkansas, recruit Vincent Parks.

AP’s investigation found instances in which recruits who were in serious medical distress were pushed to continue training before they died. In addition to calling off drills in such cases, academy leaders must ensure adequate hydration and breaks and limit training when heat makes it unsafe, experts said.

Bill Alexander, CEO of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund in Washington, said the number of deaths could be reduced but probably not eliminated given the nature of policing, which can require chasing and arresting combative suspects.

“If you’re training people physically and if you’re training them hard, you’re going to have these very rare medical events,” said Alexander, who previously led an academy in Maryland.

Still, some leaders say the field needs urgent action to better protect recruits.

An eager recruit for a department in need

When Ronald Donat arrived at the Gwinnett County Police Department Academy in Lawrenceville, Ga., he thought he’d finally found his place in law enforcement.

He always wanted to become an officer, but his wife, Sharline Volcy, said she initially discouraged him due to safety concerns when their children were young. Both immigrated from Haiti in the 1990s to New Jersey, where they met at church.

Donat earned a college degree and worked various jobs, including installing satellite TV dishes and cable, but longed for the responsibility and community service that policing would bring.

He finally applied but was initially passed over. When Gwinnett County recruited applicants from New Jersey, Donat applied because he already had a sister living in Georgia, Volcy said.

Georgia’s second-largest police agency, Gwinnett County has held hiring events around the country as it struggles to fill hundreds of vacancies. It’s offered bonuses to combat the officer shortage, which grew during the coronavirus pandemic and 2020 protests against police brutality.

A physician who evaluated Donat for the department concluded he was healthy, with no concerning conditions, according to a form the doctor submitted to the state’s police standards agency. Following the normal process for the county and most U.S. police departments, the doctor didn’t screen Donat for sickle cell trait.

Donat began working out with other recruits, passed a state-mandated physical fitness test and was given badge 2423. He smiled for a selfie in a squad car. He shared advice with a classmate: “Never give up.”

Most departments lack policies on sickle cell

Up to 3 million Black citizens in the U.S. have sickle cell trait, yet many adults with the genetic condition don’t know their status, researchers say. Unlike people with sickle cell disease, they carry only one gene for sickle cell, and one normal gene.

The condition, which is diagnosed through a blood test, doesn’t usually affect their daily lives. But it can cause decreased blood flow and muscle breakdown after intense exertion, dehydration or high body temperatures. In very rare cases, that can result in collapse and death.

The NCAA and U.S. military now screen recruits for the condition, which has contributed to some deaths during football practices and boot camps. Researchers say exertional deaths among college athletes plummeted after NCAA-mandated testing and precautions went into effect in 2010, while the impact of the military programs is under review. Slowly building intensity, resting between drills, remaining hydrated during workouts and responding quickly to signs of distress are recommended.

Most police departments have no such screening programs. Many longtime law enforcement trainers say they’ve never heard of the condition, which AP found was cited as a contributing factor in several deaths and serious injuries of recruits.

McGuffey, the Ohio sheriff, said the cause of Marcus Zeigler’s death was initially a mystery. Before his collapse in May 2023, Zeigler was in peak condition and a top recruit, she said.

Since the death, Hamilton County has started screening recruits for the condition, which costs $75 per test.

Changes but no discipline after a Georgia death

Hours after Donat died, Gwinnett County released a statement saying Donat had been “instructed by supervising staff to rest” after becoming lethargic.

A fellow recruit who saw that statement on the news questioned the claim, texting classmates, “as far as I know I never heard that or saw that.” One responded that Donat was last seen in the planking position before his collapse.

A county medical examiner ruled Donat died of natural causes, saying he had an enlarged heart prone to abnormal rhythms. That shocked his wife, Volcy, who said her husband was a fit soccer player with no known heart issues.

The autopsy report didn’t mention sickle cell trait. Volcy believes her husband had it — she’s learned their daughters do, she said, and she has tested negative. Today, Gwinnett County still doesn’t screen recruits for the condition, spokesperson Sgt. Collin Flynn said.

The department’s investigation, completed weeks after Donat’s death, found no policy violations and resulted in no disciplinary action. A major who led the investigation concluded, “I cannot imagine a scenario, had different actions been taken, that would have changed the tragic death of Recruit Donat.”

Still, the department now requires an ambulance with emergency responders on scene during the first day of physical training, Flynn said. Changes to the workout allow instructors to keep a closer eye on those who are struggling, he said.