‘Very Callous’: A Black San Francisco Police Cadet Collapsed During Training and Died. What the Department Did Next Has His Family Suspecting Foul Play
The family of a 30-year-old Black man who died during an intense training exercise at the San Francisco Police Academy in August is demanding a better explanation for how he died and millions in compensation from the police department. Jon-Marques Psalms was a fit and healthy cadet participating in his 14th week of training on Aug. 20 when he suffered a head injury, and a gauze bandage was placed on his head, according to a government claim filed on behalf of his estate and his parents, Christina and Marcus Psalms, by attorney Brad Gage this week. Later that day, Psalms fainted during hand-to-hand combat drills in which a training officer wore padded “RedMan” protective gear and acted as an attacker. Psalms was rushed to a nearby hospital via ambulance and spent two days in intensive care before he died. The family of the late Jon-Marques Psalms (right) is pursuing legal action against the San Francisco Police Department after he collapsed during an intense training exercise involving a trainer wearing padded "RedMan" gear (left, from a training in 2017) and died two days later. (Photos: RedMan Facebook page, Jon-Marques Psalms LinkedIn) Padded-suit training drills have involved serious injury and death among other police trainees, including a Santa Clara County sheriff’s cadet who collapsed while participating in a RedMan drill in 2020 and spent hours on life support before he died at a hospital, just days before his academy graduation, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The San Francisco Medical Examiner ruled the manner of Psalms’ death an accident caused by too much physical exertion, leading to massive organ failure. The medical examiner’s report indicated that Psalms had a serious preexisting medical condition, rhabdomyolysis, which the San Francisco Standard noted occurs when damaged muscle tissue releases its proteins and electrolytes into the blood, per the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. ‘Treated Like a Criminal’: Black Michigan Boy Expelled After Allegedly Taking Gun Away from Classmate and Preventing ‘Unimaginable Tragedy’ Cal/OSHA, the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health, is still investigating the incident as the agency does with all workplace deaths, the Chronicle reported, and the San Francisco Police Department continues to conduct its own internal investigation, the department said. The family doesn’t accept the city’s official autopsy results and has been calling for a second, independent autopsy, so far raising more $45,000 to pay for it through a GoFundMe campaign set up by Psalms’ younger brother Malik.Gage said the medical examiner has not yet released the body to the family. “The highly controversial ‘Street Cop Training’ exercise that led to his passing has left our family with more questions than answers, and sadly, the City of San Francisco and the Police Department have not provided us with the clarity and support we need at this time,” Malik Psalms wrote in a post on the fundraising site. He noted that Psalms was not eligible for life insurance or other benefits that could help the family financially because he was not yet sworn in as an officer. The government claim, which is a required precursor to a civil lawsuit in California, alleges that Psalms suffered a neurological injury during the training exercise and that he endured pain and suffering from massive brain swelling and kidney and liver failure “because of the actions at the Academy.” The Claim that Psalms was an athlete with a blue belt in jiujitsu, the claim says, “a perfectly healthy young man went through training at the Police Academy. As a result of that training, he has now left the Earth.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?vnl51XC4hits The family and Gage find it unusual that the day after Psalms died, his captain at the academy took a month-long trip, and the lieutenant in charge of day-to-day operations was transferred, suggesting “that the department already has found alleged wrongdoing on their part,” the claim says. The police department told reporters that Capt. Christopher Canning’s travels were related to training that was planned before the incident and that "any decisions on staffing changes at the academy occurred before Recruit Officer Psalms’ tragic death." The government claim insists that the explanation “doesn’t pass the smell test." Taking a trip "on the heels of this tragedy also appears to be very callous,” the claim contends. “If there was not any disciplinary reason for this trip ... why not reschedule it so that the Captain is present during these trying times? Wouldn’t that be the humane response?” The Psalmses accuse the police department of wrongful death, assault, battery, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and seek general, special and punitive damages to be determined in a civil trial in San Francisco Superior Court. The claim notes that “it is not uncommon for cases like this to resolve for over $50 .” Psalms grew up in Southern California, graduated from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette with a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering, and then moved to the Bay Area and worked in the tech sales industry for five years before joining the police academy in May. “Jon should not have died,” Gage said at a press conference standing alongside Christina and Marcus Psalms near the San Francisco Superior Court, announcing the legal action on Wednesday. “He was in great shape.” He said the family is “seeking justice and answers to why their son tragically died. We hope with this lawsuit we will be able to protect other family members from having their loved ones killed while training with the police department.”"I don't know if I'll ever recover," said his father, Marcus. "Nobody should have to go through that, and we don't know enough about what happened," said Christina, adding that she received little information about the cause of his injuries, and was notified that he was "dehydrated" when he was sent to the hospital, KTVU reported. "From the time I arrived at the hospital, no one with SFPD came and approached to tell us exactly what happened," she said. "Accidents do happen. I get that," said Marcus Psalms. "They happen every single day, but it shouldn't happen when you train," he added. "Maybe twist your ankle, break an arm, you know, get a cut, but die? No…" His family wants to put an end to the training exercise they think killed him. Gage suspects it was "arrest and control" scenario training, and that Jon-Marques was pushed too far, but the police department has not clarified what Psalms was doing when he collapsed. "There's been no video produced showing what happened. The explanations that we have received are incomplete and perhaps inconsistent," Gage said. "I'm aware of 10 to 15 different cases throughout the country where recruits and police officers have died in training such as this arrest and control, which is what I think the exercise was," he said. Gage, a civil rights and employment lawyer based in Southern California, has won several major cases involving the Los Angeles Police Department and Sheriff’s Department, and secured large judgments and settlements with other cities and counties in California. The San Francisco Police Department told Atlanta Black Star it could not comment on pending litigation."The death of a recruit at the academy is incredibly unusual and tragic," the department said in a statement immediately following his death. "This is the first death of a recruit during training that the SFPD is aware of." San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie told ABC7 News that the loss of any police officer is a "tragedy," but that "losing a recruit who had committed himself to this police department and to the safety of our community is especially painful."
