Four first responders have been suspended after a woman they declared dead from a suspected overdose was actually alive.
Springfield Township Fire Chief Barry Cousino, Assistant Fire Chief David Moore and two paramedics, Aiden Yoon and Bill Fordyce, were placed on administrative leave.
The decision came after several first responders from Springfield Township and Toledo mistakenly pronounced a woman dead in an Ohio home and said, “Okay, good enough for me” when they called the scene.
They then called a coroner, who arrived at the scene and found the woman was breathing.
Arielle Diaz, 31, was found “lying unresponsive on the couch” by paramedics on Jan. 2 with a “blue-gray” complexion when they determined she was dead.
Four first responders have been suspended after a woman they declared dead from a suspected overdose was actually alive
Springfield Township Fire Chief Barry Cousino (left) and Assistant Fire Chief David Moore (right) have been placed on administrative leave
Two paramedics, Aiden Yoon (left) and Bill Fordyce (right), were also placed on leave
Emergency help came after a neighbor called 911 when he heard a dog barking repeatedly and went to check the property – only to find the woman unconscious.
Rescue workers were already on scene but enlisted the help of the dog warden to remove the animal.
At the woman's side was reportedly a “large, aggressive pit bull dog” that “wouldn't move,” complicating first responder's efforts to care for her, they claimed.
While police worked to get the dog out of bed using food and other means, no one had looked for the woman.
From a distance, first responders noticed that Diaz's fingers and the area around her mouth were blue.
After the dog warden finally pushed the dog off the property, EMS went back into the house and made his decision about the woman just two minutes after the dog left. It referred to “Code 18” – police language for finding a deceased person.
After gathering outside to discuss Diaz's condition, the paramedic told the doctor on the phone, “She's an anger addict.”
The doctor replied: “Do you see any kind of nonsense?”, to which he replied: “No severity is noticed, but dependent pallor.”
The coroner arrived at 9:45 a.m., more than an hour after Diaz was pronounced dead. At 9:57 a.m., the coroner noted that she was exhaling, that her stomach felt warm, and that her legs and feet were flexible.
Diaz was given a mask to help her breathe and given three doses of Narcan – after which she “perked up.”
The decision came after several first responders from Springfield Township and Toledo mistakenly pronounced a woman dead in an Ohio home and said, “Okay, good enough for me” when they called the scene
Arielle Diaz, 31, was found “lying unresponsive on the couch” by paramedics on Jan. 2 with a “blue-gray” complexion when they determined she was dead
Springfield Township promises an internal investigation into the response, saying, “It shouldn't have happened.”
Springfield Township promises an internal investigation into the response, saying, “It shouldn't have happened.”
“The situation is tragic. “It shouldn’t have happened, and we’re very sorry it did,” township manager Michael Hampton said, according to WTOL. “Our internal investigation will definitely get to the bottom of what happened and we will provide the public with as much transparency as we legally can.”
Barry Cousino and David Moore were not at the scene when the incident occurred. It will be examined how they handled the situation in the following days and whether they are obliged to report the incident to municipality staff.
The township's board of trustees first learned of the incident on Monday.