Kendrick Johnson was found dead ... soon after that Johnson died in a freak accident, stuck upside down and unable to breathe while trying to retrieve a shoe that fell inside the upright mat.

A federal appeals court has revived legal action in the Kendrick Johnson case, allowing his parents to sue individual officials for his 2013 gym mat death.

A federal appeals court ruled that the dismissal of the lawsuit filed by the parents of a 17-year-old who was found dead in a high school gym mat should be reconsidered.

In 2013, sophomore Kendrick Johnson was found dead at Lowndes County High School in Valdosta. They found him suffocated inside a gym mat. Law enforcement ruled his death a "tragic accident ...