Meanwhile, the family of Earl Moore, who authorities say was suffering hallucinations shortly before he was pronounced dead at the hospital, have retained civil rights attorney Ben Crump to represent them in the case.
Illinois paramedics Peter Cadigan, 50, and Jill Finley, 45, appeared in court for a preliminary hearing Friday morning on charges of first-degree murder of a patient who died in their care last month.
Earl L. Moore, Jr., a 35-year-old Black man, had been “suffering hallucinations” in the early hours of Dec. 18, 2022, shortly before he died, cops said.
Authorities said they were originally dispatched in response to a call about someone possessing firearms inside a home. When they arrived, they determined Moore needed medical assistance, and called for an ambulance, according to a press release from the Springfield police.
Bodycam footage released last week showed Cadigan and Finley as they arrived at the the scene and “acted indifferently to the patient’s condition,” authorities said in a statement.
Finley could be heard in the video yelling at Moore to “sit up” and “quit acting stupid.” She could also be heard saying “I am seriously not in the mood for this dumb s***,” and “we ain’t carrying you.”
Authorities said in a statement that “it is clear based on the officers’ body-worn camera footage that the patient was not able to walk and the medical personnel were not offering any assistance.”
When officers finally bring Moore outside to the ambulance, Finley and Cadigan are seen strapping him facedown on the stretcher, in what authorities called “a prone situation,” according to a press release.
Moore died upon arrival to a local hospital, authorities said.
Prosecutors said in the charges filed that when Moore was on the stretcher facedown, Finley and Cadigan tightened the restraints on his back so hard that he allegedly died "by positional and compression asphyxia."
“My brother’s death was caused by careless, unsympathetic, unprofessional, ‘medically trained’ personnel,” Moore’s sister, Mahogany Moore, wrote on Facebook earlier this month. “Makes me sick to my stomach.”
Finley's lawyer, however, told Inside Edition in an earlier interview, "There's no physical action that my client committed that was responsible for that gentleman's death."
Cadigan's lawyer said, "I don't see that the probable cause exists that the crime has occurred. Ordinarily, even when you have such a tragedy as the death of Mr, Moore, ordinarily the venue for these is ... a wrongful death case," he told CBS This Morning.
Meanwhile, civil rights organizations including the NAACP, ACLU and Black Lives Matter Springfield continue to demand for justice in Moore’s killing.
Leaders from each group, alongside Mayor Jim Langfelder, Sangamon County’s state’s attorney Dan Wright and Springfield Police Chief Ken Scarlette united around the family in an organized march of about 150 on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, with shouts of “Justice for Earl” and “Earl Lives Matter,” the State Journal-Register reported.
Moore’s family has retained attorney Ben Crump, most famous for having represented the families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and Jacob Blake, as one of their representatives on the case.
Neither of them has entered a plea, and they currently remain behind bars pending bail, which has been set at $1,000,000.
Inside Edition Digital has not heard back from their employer LifeStar Ambulance Service, Inc. for comment.
