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Editor鈥檚 Note: For a deep dive into this topic, check out the latest episode of SA国际传媒鈥檚 鈥淚nsider Analysis: Lawsuit filed after EMS fails to resuscitate gunshot victim鈥�.
By Nicholas Gilmore
The Santa Fe New Mexican
SANTA FE, N.M. 鈥� The mother of a man who survived a suicide attempt in Santa Fe two years ago alleges in a new lawsuit the inaction of first responders led to irreparable brain damage for her son.
Gena Waterman, who filed her complaint last week in state District Court against the city of Santa Fe鈥檚 police and fire departments, accuses first responders of failing to act to save Jerome Tapia鈥檚 life until about two hours after he shot himself 鈥� even as officers kept his loved ones and other witnesses from accessing the scene while acknowledging he showed signs of life.
A city spokesperson declined to respond to the allegations in the lawsuit, citing a city policy against commenting on pending litigation.
The complaint seeks damages for pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of consortium and loss of earnings and earning capacity.
Tapia is now blind and 鈥渢otally incapacitated,鈥� the lawsuit states, as a result of delayed medical care after sustaining a self-inflicted gunshot wound in September 2022.
Santa Fe attorney Marc Edwards, who is representing Waterman in the civil suit, said in a brief interview Monday, 鈥淭he allegations in this complaint seem fictional, but I can assure you they are not.鈥�
City police and emergency medical staff were dispatched to the shooting on Siler Park Lane around 4:30 a.m. Sept. 25, 2022, according to the lawsuit. Officers were told by witnesses at the scene Tapia, who was 18 at the time, had shot himself in the head.
Officers secured the scene with crime scene tape and blocked the entrance with a police vehicle, the lawsuit states. Paramedics arrived around 4:40 a.m.
Emergency medical personnel wrote in a report they could detect 鈥渁gonal breathing鈥� at a frequency of 鈥渁pproximately once every 20 to 30 seconds,鈥� the lawsuit says, but police body camera video 鈥渃learly shows Mr. Tapia moving his head and that his breathing was rapid and not 鈥榓gonal鈥� or 鈥�0' as documented by SFFD emergency medical personnel.鈥�
Medical staff examined Tapia for about 31 seconds; despite having the field electrocardiogram out next to him, the lawsuit states, they did not use it. Less than two minutes after arriving at the scene, paramedics were packing the ambulance to leave, according to the complaint.
Paramedics 鈥渟tated that Mr. Tapia was obviously dead and would not be transported,鈥� the complaint alleges.
Within two minutes of the paramedics鈥� departure and for two hours afterward, the suit states, Tapia 鈥渆xhibited obvious and undeniable signs of life,鈥� including 鈥渞apid breathing, moving and at times flailing his arms, moaning, screaming, yelling noises, rolling onto his side and finally trying to push himself up at the end of this two-hour period.鈥�
During this period, it adds, 鈥淪FPD body camera recordings show at least seven SFPD officers doing nothing other than watch and make comments to each other about Mr. Tapia鈥檚 moaning, movements and breathing.鈥�
Tapia鈥檚 girlfriend, her parents and a friend 鈥渞epeatedly told the officers that Mr. Tapia was moving and moaning and was still alive鈥� from outside the taped-off crime scene, according to the lawsuit.
About one hour into the incident, an officer can be heard in video footage saying, 鈥渕akes you think if he鈥檚 still, like, somewhat there,鈥� the complaint says.
Still, the lawsuit alleges, the officers 鈥渄id nothing other than rebuff civilian witnesses who wanted to aid Mr. Tapia .鈥�
As the witnesses pleaded with them to help Tapia, 鈥淪FPD officers kept them away from him,鈥� the complaint states.
Minutes later, Tapia can be heard in the footage 鈥渓oudly moaning for well over four minutes,鈥� and afterward, an officer says to others, 鈥渁re the witnesses, like, in a vehicle, where they aren鈥檛 going to hear this?鈥� according to the complaint.
Another officer responded, 鈥淭hey actually, they came out and said that he was alive and moving. I think we need to move them.鈥�
The lawsuit says one officer could be heard shortly afterward saying, 鈥淭here鈥檚 still some rise and fall of his abdomen 鈥� he鈥檚 a fighter.鈥�
Finally, when Tapia 鈥渞aised his head up and tried to get up on his own at approximately 6:20 a.m.,鈥� the complaint says, police called medical responders back to the scene.
Paramedics took Tapia to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, and he was then airlifted to the University of New Mexico Hospital.
The lawsuit alleges city staff acted with negligence and violated Tapia鈥檚 civil rights; it argues the first responders鈥� actions during the call were 鈥渟hocking to the conscience.鈥�
The lawsuit states Tapia 鈥� who is now blind 鈥� can perform most daily life activities with assistance, and that his ability to verbally communicate his thoughts and feelings has improved with therapy. It says, however, a 鈥渃ritical threshold鈥� of time was missed to render care to Tapia for improved neurological outcomes.
鈥淚t is a near-certainty, not just more likely than not, that Mr. Tapia suffered additional, unnecessary surrounding brain tissue damage in the ensuing, nearly two-hour delay,鈥� the lawsuit says, arguing his life would be 鈥渄ramatically different鈥� had medical care been provided promptly after the shooting.
鈥淐ity police officers and emergency medical personnel acted with deliberate indifference to Mr. Tapia鈥檚 serious medical needs, while simultaneously cutting off any source of private aid, thus enhancing the danger and risks that Mr. Tapia faced,鈥� the lawsuit alleges.
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