The family of Jerica LaCour, who died four years ago shortly after she was injected with the powerful sedative ketamine by a paramedic, have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the ambulance company and the healthcare worker.
The 29-year-old Black woman had been drinking alcohol and walking around in a Colorado Springs, Colorado parking lot before her death, Yahoo reported. According to court records, she was crying uncontrollably and lying on the ground when firefighters, police, and other emergency personnel arrived at the scene the night of January 11, 2018.
According to the lawsuit filed in El Paso County District Court last week, the authorities responded to a 911 call about a distressed person that was trespassing on private property.
Family accuses Poulson of administering the fatal ketamine
The family alleged Jason Poulson, a paramedic working for the American Medical Response Ambulance Service, gave 400 milligrams of ketamine to LaCour. He administered the sedative despite objections from a firefighter who also was an emergency medical technician (EMT).
According to the lawsuit filed on behalf of LaCour and her husband's five preteen kids, she stopped breathing shortly afterward. The victim's husband, Anthony LaCour, said in an interview that he will never understand why she died.
The grieving 55-year-old said that his wife was taken out of here for no reason and he thinks about her every day, every night, and when he dresses their kids. An emotional Anthony said he took her death very, very hard as he and his wife were really close.
Using ketamine outside hospital settings has come under intense scrutiny since the death of Elijah McClain back in 2019. An amended autopsy report revealed that the 23-year-old Black man died after he was injected with ketamine by paramedics and forcibly restrained by police in Aurora, Colorado.
Lawsuit states that LaCour's behavior did not fit criteria of excited delirium
The sedative is usually given to people when they show signs of excited delirium, erratic behavior said to be related to mental illness and drug abuse, or if there is a perceived threat to patients or medical staff.
A physicians group issued a report back in March, saying that excited delirium, which was also part of the murder case of George Floyd, has no psychiatric or medical basis. Colorado's health department said last year that emergency workers should not take into account a person's erratic behavior when determining whether to inject someone with ketamine.
The family's attorney, Daniel Kay, made it clear that LaCour was not combative before she was administered ketamine.
The suit stated that her behavior did not fit the criteria of excited delirium. According to the El Paso County Coroner's Office's report, LaCour died from ketamine and acute alcohol intoxication. The report also found that she was obese and had recently ingested cocaine, according to NBC News.
