The growing list of people who failed Tyre Nichols includes EMTs JaMichael Sandridge and Robert Long, who provided no medical treatment for 19 minutes.
Source: SETH HERALD / Getty
The more we learn about the night six former Memphis police officers attacked and fatally beat Nichols during an alleged traffic stop, the more guilty the entire system looks. The a state board determined the two first responders also have Nichols’ blood on their hands. CNN reports the Board of Emergency Medical Services terminated the “negligent” EMTs because they “may have contributed” to Nichols’ death.
State Board Says EMTs “Failed To Provide” Emergency Care For Tyre Nichols
The young father’s suffering didn’t end with the crooked cops’ kicks, punches, pepper spray, tasers, and batons. It didn’t even end when the Memphis Fire Department personnel arrived at the scene. Long and Sandridge “failed to provide any basic or limited advanced skills in emergency care” while Nichols “showed clear signs of distress” with a broken neck and severe bleeding from the savage assault.
“Respondent provided no treatment to patient (Tyre Nichols) for the approximate 19-minute referenced time-period beginning at 8:41 p.m.,” the summary suspension documents said about both Sandriddge, the senior Black EMT and his partner Long.
“Patient T.N. did not receive, from Respondent, high-flow oxygen, did not receive an intravenous line and was not placed on a cardiac monitor for hospital interpretation,” the report said about Sandridge.
Every minute counts when someone needs an ambulance, but these incompetent first responders waited an excruciating 19 while cops laughed and took pictures of Nichols’ broken body. When the board convened on Feb. 3, they continued both EMTs’ summary suspensions while deciding whether to revoke their licences.
After reviewing part of the video from Sandridge and Long’s arrival on the scene, board member Dennis Rowe called their misconduct “egregious.”
“These actions were negligent. There was every reason to believe those actions may have contributed to the demise of that patient,” Rowe said.
The Memphis Fire Department Also Terminated A Lieutenant Who Never Left The Fire Truck
Former Memphis officers Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr.,Justin Smith were swiftly fired and charged with Nichols’ murder. Although Preston Hemphill was also terminated for misconduct, he suspicioiusly has no criminal charges against him. Another incompetent first responder will join them in unemployment.
The coverup was already underway when Sandridge and Long recieved a call that Nichols needed attention as a “person pepper sprayed.” However, they were complicit as soon as they refused to “obtain vital signs and conduct a full head-to-toe examination” for 19 minutes.
After an initial investigation, Memphis Fire Department Police Chief Gina Sweat said the EMTs “failed to conduct an adequate patient assessment of Mr. Nichols.” The statment also announced the termination of a third member of the fire department, Lieutenant Michelle Whitaker.
“After concluding our internal investigation, it was determined that Long, Sandridge and Lt. Whitaker violated numerous MFD Policies and Protocols. As a result, EMT-B Long, EMT-A Sandridge and Lt. Whitaker have been terminated from the Memphis Fire Department,” Sweat’s statement said.
“Their actions or inactions on the scene that night do not meet the expectations of the Memphis Fire Department and are not reflective of the outstanding service the men and women of the Memphis Fire Department provide daily in our community.”
The depraved indifference, misconduct, and negligence while Nichols died a slow, painful death was criminal. These fired first responders are a symptom of a bloodthirsty and biased system, not the cause. As long as there could be another Tyre Nichols, we’re nowhere close to real justice in this country.
