THE PARENTS OF A YOUNG POLICE RECRUIT who died last year during a physical training exercise for the San Francisco Police Department filed a lawsuit this week accusing the city and department of wrongful death, battery, assault and negligence.
Jon-Marques Psalms was 30 years old when died at a San Francisco hospital on Aug. 22, two days after completing a high-intensity exercise while training to become an SFPD officer. SFPD did not specify exactly what type of exercise Psalms was engaged in, but said that he had suffered a “medical emergency,” according to a statement the department released on the day of his death.
The San Francisco Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the death an accident caused by rhabdomyolysis from overexertion, a condition where muscle tissue breaks down that can lead to organ failure.
Brad Gage, the attorney for Psalms’ parents, highly suspects that Psalms had participated in an exercise known as “RedMan,” a controversial training designed to simulate scenarios between an officer and a physically aggressive suspect. It involves elevating heart rates of recruits through calisthenics, then engaging in hand-to-hand combat with another person who wears a padded “RedMan” suit for protection.
The exercise has resulted in deaths of other police and law enforcement recruits around the country. In 2020, a recruit who was training to be a deputy for the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office died after engaging in the exercise. “RedMan” training has been banned in the entire state of Massachusetts since 2016 after a recruit lost an eye.
We have to figure out a way for this exercise to be either abolished or monitored better. This doesn’t make sense.
Marcus Psalms, Jon-Marques Psalms’ father
“It’s brutal,” Gage said. “The problem is, sometimes it’s too brutal, and it’s caused deaths all over the country.”
According to the suit filed Tuesday, Psalms participated in the exercise with fellow recruit Michael Russell, who had a background in wrestling. After the exercise, Russell went to go get a brief medical check. When he returned, he found Psalms lying face down on the ground.
Psalms was conscious and able to state his name but showed irregular breathing patterns and collapsed when Russell tried to roll him over, according to the suit.
Medical emergency personnel were called and when they arrived, Psalms was unresponsive. He underwent brain surgery, during which doctors discovered extensive swelling and bleeding. It was then that the decision was made to take Psalms off life support, according to the suit.
Since his death, Psalms’ parents have been fighting to get to the bottom of what happened, saying they have been left in the dark by the city and SFPD. They believe that there was negligence and an intent to cause harm to Psalms.
“There’s no reason that anybody can convince me that the way I lost my son is justified, because it’s not,” said Marcus Psalms, the grieving father of the recruit, during a media briefing Thursday.
Gage and Psalms’ parents argue that SFPD and the city are engaged in a cover-up, alleging that SFPD is withholding videos and photos that show what happened. Videotaping training exercises is a normal practice for police departments, Gage said.
“We’ve requested the video and we’ve asked them to preserve it,” Gage said at the briefing. “Our concern is that there was a video and that the video would show wrongdoing, and that it’s being concealed.”
SFPD referred a request for comment to the City Attorney’s Office. Jen Kwart, a spokesperson for the office, said that the litigation is under review.
“Recruit Officer Psalms death is a tragedy, and our thoughts are with his loved ones,” Kwart said. “We will review the complaint and respond in court.”
Medical oversight lapses cited
Psalms’ parents requested a second, independent autopsy, which showed that there was brain bleeding, according to Gage.
“The difference between the first autopsy and the second autopsy significantly boils down to brain bleeds,” Gage said. “Those brain bleeds are significant because they help to determine the cause of death and to show the failures from proper medical monitoring.”
The suit accuses SFPD and the city of inadequately supervising recruits during the exercise, not allowing enough water breaks, and improper medical evaluations during and before the exercise.
As stated in the lawsuit, Psalms was in “excellent health” before the exercise and held a blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, a form of martial arts involving grappling.
However, it was later revealed through autopsy that he had preexisting heart conditions that made him more susceptible to medical complications by participating in the exercise. The combination of the high-intensity exercise with Psalms’ underlying health conditions contributed to his death, according to the lawsuit.
The suit argues that SFPD and the city had a duty to protect Psalms from injury by conducting proper health screenings. They could have evaluated his physical health by using stress EKGs, or electrocardiograms, to measure heart activity during exercise, Gage said.
“He may have had any number of preexisting medical issues with the heart or elsewhere, all of which with a proper stress EKG and other monitoring should have been discovered by San Francisco PD so he would be protected and not subject to death,” Gage said.
While nothing can bring Psalms back, his parents are hoping that the lawsuit will reveal any potential wrongdoing and help bring accountability to the city and SFPD. They would also like to see the RedMan exercise be removed from training.
“We have to figure out a way for this exercise to be either abolished or monitored better,” Marcus said. “This doesn’t make sense.”