Dead woman's mother blaming EMTs, racism

Nicole Black got a call around 1:45 a.m. July 4 that her daughter Crystle Gallo- way had fallen in the bath- room of her Tampa, Fla., condominium and that some- thing was wrong.

She had hit her head, Gal- loway’s daughter said, and by the time Black raced from her home two blocks away, she was slumped over the bathtub, foaming at the mouth and her lips were swollen.

Black called 911. Later that day, Galloway slipped into a coma. She died five days after.

But weeks later, questions persist about what happened after the 911 call and whether race played a role in how

Black and her daughter were treated. Four emergency medical workers have been placed on paid leave.

Black said t hat t he responders told her she could not afford the $600 ambulance ride to take her daughter to the hospital, and that she was directed by the medics to drive her there on her own. Black said she believed her family was treated poorly because they are black.

Officials in Hi l lsborough County, which pro

vided the emergency medical response, disputed her

account, denied that race played a role and said Black herself said she wanted to take her daughter to the hospital.

But officials acknowl- edged other troubling issues: Nobody took Galloway’s vitals at the scene; respond-

ers failed to get a signed con- firmation from Black that her daughter would not use the ambulance; and, in a follow-up report, medical work- ers indicated that they had not arrived at the scene at all that morning.

Mike Merrill, the county administrator, put all four medical workers on paid leave.

Black on Saturday would not disclose specific medical information about her daughter, but she said she

did not believe she would have died if the responders had acted differently.

“I’m devastated,” Black said. “I feel like my chest has been ripped open.”

At a news conference last week, Merrill said he deeply regretted “that this has happened, and clearly this is unacceptable.”

“My deepest sympathies to the family, and my deepest

apologies for my fire medics not properly performing and caring for this patient,” he said.

On June 27, Galloway had a cesarean section, giving birth to a boy. Recent news reports have highlighted the high rates of maternal mor- tality among black women. Nationally, they are three to

four times as likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth as white women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Merrill said Saturday that he had not received any information that would indicate that race was a factor influencing the medical work- ers’ actions, or that if they had acted differently,Gallo- way would have survived.

The county identified the emergency medical workers as John Morris, 36, a lieu- tenant; Justin Sweeney, 36,

and Andrew Martin, 28, both fire medics; and Cortney Barton, 38, an acting lieutenant. They could not be reached for comment.

In statements released by the county, the responders described helping Galloway down the stairs of her home and placing her into Black’s car, but they denied refus- ing to take her.

“By the time we realized that no information was obtained, the mother had already left the scene,” Morris wrote.

He said that Black was “adamant” she would take her daughter to the emergency room and that “at no point would I advise against a person being transported by our rescue.”

Derrik Ryan, president of Hillsborough County Firefighters Local 2294, said Black’s description of what happened was “not factual.” He said that the medical workers did not “talk her out of going to the hospital” and that they did not talk about the cost of the

ambulance trip.

Ryan called the assertion that race played a role in their interactions “totally ridiculous.”

He acknowledged that the medical workers failed to get Galloway’s vitals and should have gotten Black to sign a document stating that they would not be taking Galloway to the hospital. He said that a medical worker mistakenly entered into a report that they did not reach Galloway.

“Did we make minor mistakes on that call? Absolutely,” Ryan said. “We did not kill that lady and we did not refuse to transport that lady.”

Merrill said two Hillsborough County sheriff ’s depu

ties who also responded that night had some discussion with Black about the cost of transporting her daughter to the hospital.

In a statement, a sheriff ’s office spokesman said Black had asked one of the deputies if emergency medical workers would take Galloway to the hospital and if she would have to pay for the transport. The deputy responded affirmatively to both questions.