Suspect could face 20 to 60 years in prison if convicted.
Photo: Joshua Lott/Getty Images
Two Illinois EMS workers have been charged with murder in connection with the death of a 35-year-old man in their charge, who was allegedly tied upside down on a stretcher.
Peter Cadigan, 50, and Peggy Finley, 44, LifeStar emergency medical workers, were charged with first-degree murder in the December 18 death of Earl L. Moore Jr., the prosecutor announced Tuesday. Sangamon County State, Dan Wright.
Moore died after he was taken to an ambulance face down and straps were attached to his back and lower body to keep him on the stretcher, Wright said.
The Springfield Police Department had responded to a home around North 11th Street in the state capital around 2 a.m. after receiving a call about people inside with firearms. When officers arrived, a resident said the person who made the 911 call was suffering from “hallucinations due to alcohol withdrawal,” police said.
Officers found that individual, Moore, and “quickly realized the patient was in need of medical assistance,” police said.
A paramedic motioned for Moore to walk to the ambulance, but body camera footage, also released, showed that Moore was “unable to walk and medical staff offered no help.”
When police were notified Moore had died, Chief Ken Scarlette called for an independent investigation. by the Illinois State Police.
Wright said that based on the findings of the ISP’s ongoing investigation and the autopsy report, he filed first-degree murder charges against Cadigan and Finley.
They are currently being held in the Sangamon County Jail on $1 million bond each. The prosecutor said they face a range of 20 to 60 years in prison if convicted.
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