2 Illinois EMS workers charged with murder as patient dies after they strapped him onto gurney face-down
SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS: Two first responders who were summoned to save a man's life have been charged with first-degree murder after the victim died from suffocation while being strapped face-down onto a stretcher. Peter Cadigan, 50, and Peggy Finley, 40, were arrested on Monday, January 9, in connection with the death of Earl L Moore Jr, 35, in Springfield, Illinois, on December 18. They were incarcerated in the Sangamon County Jail with a $1 million bail each. If convicted, they could each face 20 to 60 years in prison.
The Lifestar EMS workers were dispatched to Moore's home shortly after 2 am after police found him to be in medical distress at his home. According to a press release from Springfield Police Department, officers stated Moore had allegedly been experiencing hallucinations caused by alcohol withdrawal and that he required medical attention. According to recently released body camera footage, the pair put the patient on the stretcher laying flat on his stomach and fastened a medical strap across his lower torso. Moore was then transferred to a nearby hospital where he was later declared dead, reported People.
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"Following the arrival of EMS, Earl Moore Jr became the victim of acts which caused his death at the hands of individuals called by police to provide emergency medical care," Sangamon County State's Attorney Dan Wright said. The postmortem report revealed that Moore's death was caused by "compressional and positional asphyxia owing to prone face-down entrapment on a paramedic transportation cot stretcher by tightened straps across the back". Given their education and expertise, the two should have recognized that positioning the patient in such a manner "would create a substantial probability of great bodily harm or death," Wright told Fox News.
According to Teresa Haley, president of the Springfield NAACP, she saw police body camera footage that demonstrated how the EMS workers lacked empathy and had a hostile demeanor toward Moore, a Black man. “For me, it’s not about him being a Black man. It could have been a white family. If we were called in, we would have the same opinion. Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect,” she said, as per NPR Illinois.