Dash-cam video offers details into what occurred the morning Barbara Dawson died after being removed from Calhoun Liberty Hospital in handcuffs
The Parks and Crump law firm in Tallahassee hosted a press conference last Wednesday morning to release the police officer’s dash cam video from the morning Barbara Dawson died.
As previously reported, Dawson, 57, refused to leave Calhoun Liberty Hospital the morning of Dec. 21 after she was treated for abdominal pains and released. She insisted she still didn’t feel well and needed further treatment. When she allegedly became unruly, the Blountstown Police Department was called by hospital officials to have her removed. Dawson was arrested, then collapsed next to Ofc. John Tadlock’s patrol car, and was later readmitted to the hospital where she died. The Medical Examiner ruled her death was due to a blood clot.
The dash cam video is actually mostly audio since Dawson never entered the patrol car. Ofc. Tadlock’s voice recorder attached to his uniform captured everything that was said inside and outside the hospital. Officials at the hospital report cameras were not working due to their server being down since late November.
“You hear her when the officer arrives in her room in a panic...she begs, ‘I can’t breathe, please don’t do this...’ You hear them insisting she is going to jail,” Attorney Daryl Parks told reporters Wednesday morning. “You also hear hospital personnel repeating to her, ‘There’s nothing wrong with you.’”
Parks added that, after being removed from the facility and collapsing, “For at least 20 minutes, she is there beside the car without any help.”
Attorneys for the Dawson family alleged that even after the doctor came out to the parking lot, assessed her and decided to readmit her, no one seemed in a big rush to get her inside.
“We have almost 30 minutes that elapsed when she didn’t have any real care,” said Parks.
Parks said Ofc. Tadlock is heard on the recording admitting to his captain that he thought Dawson was just being non-compliant. “That assumption cost Barbara Dawson her life.”
“How many times does a person have to say, ‘I’m real sick, I can’t breathe,’ or a family member observing say, ‘She’s still hurting, something is wrong here.’ We think what they did was put criminality over health care,” said Attorney and State Representative Darryl Rouson. He went on to say, “They thought the way to deal with her was taking her to jail as opposed to getting her the adequate and the sufficient medical attention she needed. This case is about getting Barbara Dawson justice.”
Blountstown Police Chief Mark Mallory released the following statement Wednesday afternoon:
Contrary to what has been suggested by legal counsel for Ms. Dawson’s family, in Florida, law enforcement officers are “first responders”. It is important to recognize that law enforcement officers are not trained medical professionals. Generally, as a first responder, a law enforcement officer is trained in CPR.
CPR would not be utilized on a person that is breathing and that has a heartbeat, as was the case with Ms. Dawson on December 21, 2015. In the event of a perceived medical emergency, it is a law enforcement officer’s duty and responsibility to request the assistance of trained medical professionals. It is also a law enforcement officer’s responsibility to rely on the medical training and expertise of medical professionals once the officer seeks medical evaluation and/or intervention. In Ms. Dawson’s case, the responding officer acted appropriately, by requesting immediate assistance from medical professionals. As clearly depicted in the audio recording of the events as they transpired on December 21, 2015, the officer sought medical attention for Ms. Dawson within less than one minute of her collapse. The medical professionals that responded to Ms. Dawson in the Calhoun-Liberty Hospital parking lot included the following: registered nurses, a paramedic, and a doctor. Upon the arrival of the various medical professionals, the officer deferred to the professional training and expertise of the summoned medical professionals to evaluate and assess Ms. Dawson’s need for medical intervention. Although the officer may have suspected that Ms. Dawson was intentionally noncompliant, he nonetheless fully executed his duty and responsibility, requesting that medical professionals continue to verify Ms. Dawson’s health status, even after the medical professionals initially assessed and evaluated Ms. Dawson following her collapse. Any action by the law enforcement officer usurping and/or interfering with the medical professionals’ expertise, knowledge and advice, either upon
Ms. Dawson’s discharge from Calhoun-Liberty Hospital (after approximately eight (8) hours of evaluation and treatment by medical professionals) or subsequently in the Calhoun-Liberty Hospital parking lot following her collapse, would have been reckless. Any suggestion otherwise by the lawyers involved in this matter is misleading and illogical. Regardless, Ms. Dawson’s passing is a loss felt by our community, and our thoughts and prayers remain with her family and friends during this time.
The dash cam video can be seen in it’s entirety at Tallahassee.com
Three employees at Calhoun-Liberty Hospital have been disciplined in the matter. During a press conference outside the hospital Monday afternoon, Interim CEO Ruth Attaway said those employees were given the option of taking administrative leave or working in non-patient care.
After listening to the audio, Attaway said her first thought was there was “a lack of compassion...that cuts to the heart. ..we’re about saving lives.”
She added, “I don’t want to ever see that happen again.”
Attaway further stated the hospital has launched it’s own independent investigation into the Dawson incident. She said this investigation is in addition to three others by the Agency for Healthcare Administration, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the Florida Department of Health.
Rev. R.B. Holmes, Chairperson of the Tallahassee Chapter of the National Action Network, joined Attaway at the podium to announce a newly formed task force to help improve the hospital. Members include:
Dr. Murray Baker, Emergency Room Director at Jackson Hospital
Doris Ballard Ferguson, Retired Associate Dean of Florida A & M University’s Nursing Program
Dr. John Fogarty, M.D., Dean of Florida State University’s College of Medicine
Rev. Angus Jackson, Pastor of St. Paul AME Church
Dr. Esias Lee, M.D., Neighborhood Medical Center
Mark Plummer, Retired Liberty County Pharmacist
Kenneth Speights, Chairman of the Calhoun County School Board, Director of Social Services at River Valley Rehabilitation Center
Dr. Cyneetha Strong, M.D., Practicing Family Physician, President of the Williams Gunn Medical Association and Past President of the Florida Academy of Family Physicians
The task force’s job will be to seek best practice recommendations for the hospital and improve communication with the community.
