SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Springfield Township trustees unanimously voted Tuesday to terminate two paramedics who mistakenly declared a woman dead while responding to a possible drug overdose in January.
According to a report from R. Kent Murphree, an attorney appointed by the county to investigate the incident, Springfield Twp. paramedics Aiden Yoon and William Fordyce "failed to follow basic procedures before declaring the patient deceased."
Yoon, 28, and Fordyce, 54, responded to a call of a possible drug overdose in Toledo — which Springfield Twp. responded to because of a mutual aid contract with Lucas County — on Jan. 2 and declared 31-year-old Arielle Diaz dead, despite her still being alive at the time.
“This terrible situation was completely avoidable,” Springfield Township Administrator, Michael Hampton said. “Our investigation uncovered numerous discrepancies between what these former paramedics claimed happened and what police body camera footage and other evidence showed. Given the facts, the Trustees felt strongly there was no way these two paramedics could continue to effectively serve residents.”
Springfield Fire Chief Barry Cousino and Assistant Fire Chief David Moore still remain on administrative leave they were placed on after the incident.
Yoon, who is described as the "lead" for the overdose response, and Fordyce found Diaz unresponsive in the home on West Bancroft Street and, along with police, unsuccessfully attempted to lure away an aggressive dog unwilling to move from her side. They also contacted the dog warden, who secured the dog after taking more than 40 minutes to arrive, according to a previous statement from Hampton on the incident.
"The paramedics observed that the patient was cold and stiff," according to Hampton. "They found no pulse, which led them to believe she was dead."
The paramedics then called their supervising physician who walked them through multiple steps to confirm Diaz was dead.
Diaz was taken to the hospital following the incident and her condition remains unclear.
Murphree's report shows that through written statements and interviews with Yoon and Fordyce, the two paramedics disagreed on whether Yoon actually checked Diaz's pulse and that Yoon's "version of the facts are not credible."
"When interviewed ... Mr. Yoon indicated that when he and Mr. Fordyce entered the room where the Patient was located, he checked her right radial pulse, and stated that there was no pulse felt," Murphree's report says. "Mr. Yoon conveyed that he only checked for a pulse, and relied on Mr. Fordyce otherwise for confirmed signs of death."
But "Mr. Fordyce stated in his interview that he did not see Mr. Yoon take a pulse. When asked if he would have seen Mr. Yoon do so if one was taken, he stated again, that he did not see Mr. Yoon take a pulse, and that he could not say whether he did, or did not check for a pulse. In a follow-up telephone interview, this investigator pressed Mr. Fordyce again on this issue, and he stated that he would have seen it if Mr. Yoon took a pulse, but that he did not."
Murphree's full report is below:
The report also states Yoon claimed he and Fordyce "acted with a sense of urgency" once the dog preventing them from reaching Diaz was removed from the premises, but video shows them "very slowly and nonchalantly walking into the house once the dog was out of the house," taking 29 seconds to walk about 20 feet into the home and not carrying equipment with them.
Yoon claimed he asked Toledo Fire & Rescue Department personnel at the scene to retrieve equipment from his and Fordyce's vehicle, but this request is not heard on video, according to the report.
After Diaz was reported dead, Barry Porter, an investigator with the Lucas County Coroner's Office, arrived at the scene and found Diaz to be warm to the touch and "heard a gasp from her mouth" while taking photos for identification;
Porter then noticed “shallow respirations” and a “slight rise in the abdomen," according to the report. He then alerted other authorities at the scene and Narcan was administered.
Another TFRD firefighter and paramedic also told Murphree that on the same day of the incident, they "came back to the station and were joking about the fact that they had caused a person to be declared deceased, but who was not" and that Yoon said “what, you don’t trust me to take a pulse” in regard to another call.