Photo Courtesy of Sangamon County Sheriff's Dept.
Two white emergency medical service (EMS) workers are facing murder charges in the death of a patient they were transporting.
The EMS workers are facing first-degree murder charges for failing to provide adequate care and endangering the life of a Black patient. The man was allegedly strapped to a stretcher in an ambulance and left unattended, which ultimately led to his death.
According to ABC, Peggy Finley and Peter Cadigan were responding
to a request for assistance at the home of Earl Moore Jr. on December 18, 2022. Moore was reportedly experiencing hallucinations due to alcohol withdrawal.Body camera footage allegedly recorded Finley and Cadigan yelling at Moore and handling him aggressively, as they claimed he was being combative. In the video, Finley can be heard yelling at the man to sit up and to “quit acting stupid.”
Finley told Moore, “We ain’t carrying you,” and “I am seriously not in the mood for this dumb [stuff].”
According to a press release from the Springfield police, officers attempted to provide Moore care after the EMS workers “acted indifferently to the patient’s condition.”
The two strapped Moore into the stretcher face-down and failed to check his vitals on the way to the hospital, neglecting his needs.
As a result, Moore died in the hospital.
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Moore’s death inspired Illinois Senator Turner to draft a new bill that would require the use of body cameras by EMS workers supplied by their employer to film all their interactions with members of the public. All ambulances would also have to be equipped with dashboard cameras.
“Had it not been for those body cameras, more than likely, we wouldn’t have had a real idea of what actually took place during that incident,” Turner said. “Inside the house, as well as outside.”
The EMS workers are being held in jail on a $1 million bond.