Posted on 12/18/2025 3:14:15 AM PST by Morgana
An emergency medical services (EMS) expert testified Tuesday in the ongoing wrongful death lawsuit Mays v. City of Seattle, saying that Seattle Fire Department (SFD) medics failed to follow protocol and "abandoned their position as paramedics" during the response to the 2020 shooting of 16-year-old Antonio Mays Jr. in the deadly Capitol Hill Occupied Protest, also known as "CHAZ" or "CHOP." This follows last week's testimony from Seattle Police Detective Alan Cruise, stating that officers were prohibited from entering the zone after the shooting under directives given by the City.
Robyn McKinley, a veteran EMS professional who conducted an independent investigation into Seattle Fire's response, told the Court that medics from Medic One fled a designated casualty collection area outside the zone when protesters arrived with the wounded teenager in a vehicle. McKinley described how dispatchers instructed CHAZ/CHOP protesters to transport Mays, shot by armed individuals acting as "security" within the zone, to a rendezvous point at 14th and Union streets. Dispatch provided details about the incoming vehicle, including its make, model, color, flashing lights, and confirmation that the occupants were unarmed.
Despite this information, medics reportedly believed someone in the vehicle was in possession of a firearm and drove away without making contact with the patient. McKinley testified that Mays was still alive and breathing at that moment, with a detectable pulse. Scrambling to save the teen's life, protesters stumbled upon a separate Seattle Fire engine and transferred Mays for treatment. By that time, it was too late to save him.
"The system failed this young man," McKinley said, noting that a system error had mislabeled the casualty area as a "scene of violence," complicating the response. She added, "With this particular incident, the ball was dropped," and emphasized that she had never seen EMTs "abandon in that fashion" during her career.
Seattle Fire Captain Josh Pearson, a supervisor at the time, defended his team's decision to depart the "chaotic" scene. He said that the car transporting Mays was moving "recklessly" toward Medic One, and that medics assumed, incorrectly, that a man riding on top of the vehicle was brandishing a gun.
Due to the documented violence surrounding the autonomous zone, McKinley testified that she did, in fact, believe the medics had a "perceived fear" at the time the vehicle encountered them. However, the expert told the Court that the medics failed to contact dispatch to notify them that they were "abandoning" the patient, a violation of standard operating guidelines (SOG) of scenes of violence response. Additionally, McKinley said that emergency responders did not report their alleged observation of a firearm, nor did they request police assistance. It has since been determined that the subject did not have a firearm on his body.
McKinley's testimony follows last week's revelation from Seattle Police Department (SPD) homicide detective Alan Cruise, who stated he received direct orders from Assistant Chief Thomas—originating from city officials—not to enter the CHAZ/CHOP zone after the shooting. The prohibition lasted nearly five hours, preventing police from securing the crime scene and resulting in protesters and/or potential suspects tampering with the evidence. His testimony bolstered the plaintiffs' argument that the city's abandonment of the Seattle Police East Precinct and prohibition on officers entering the zone created a "state-created danger," delaying critical medical care and police investigation—leading to Antonio's death and rendering the city liable for negligence.
The fatal shooting occurred around 3 am on June 29, 2020, when protesters operating as "CHAZ/CHOP security" unleashed a barrage of gunfire on Mays and his 14-year-old friend, Robert West, while they were driving a vehicle through the zone. The Antifa-BLM autonomous zone was established following the death of George Floyd, who died in Minneapolis police custody. Anti-police activists occupied a six-block radius in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood, leading city officials to abandon the SPD east precinct and implement policies restricting police and emergency responder entry without special approval.
Mays, a black teenager from California, endured more than 25 minutes of "agonizing pain" before succumbing to his injuries, said Attorney Evan Oshan, representing the Mays family. No arrests have been made in the killing. Courtroom audio played for the jury captured frantic protesters seeking aid after Medic One departed, which included the sound of Mays' labored breathing in his final moments. The trial continues, with the city defending its handling of the unprecedented protest zone.
Question: can you blame them for not wanting to take a chance on what some radio dispatcher ‘confirmed’? Get real. The family will get a settlement and it will be forgotten.
I just spoke with a retired cop who has his ‘dealings’ with internal affairs. I wouldn’t trust them either.
If I’m understanding this some fine upstanding citizens came from a riot zone and the medics jumped to conclusions that they could possess firearms and unassed the area.
The rioters need to be sued, not the medics.
Wasn’t the CHOP area a NO GO ZONE because of all of the violence (and drugs)?
So... two black teenagers were out at 3am driving around in a riot, and the rioters protesting the death of a black man... shot at them. Interesting.
I remember this case. It was all over Twitter, back when the Left controlled Twitter and they uploaded videos showing all the mayhem they committed.
IIRC, the news reported these two teens as runaways. When they drove through the barrier, the so-called ‘peaceful protesters’ shot them. I remember one video on Twitter showed the protesters searching the car to remove evidence.
The video below isn’t the one I remember, but it appears to be a video showing them looking for and removing evidence: https://x.com/KatieDaviscourt/status/1999283964109029836
What is a 16 year old from California doing in the lawless CHAZ/CHOP zone during a BLM riot?
The family should sue BLM and the CHAZ/CHOP folks
“Who injected that word into the conversation?”
A lawyer as if it’s abandonment, it’s against the law. My understanding of abandonment is you start working in the person and then leave. (But that’s the only sense I’ve ever heard the word used in as a legal term.)
‘Abandoning’ a wounded Marine and leaving him to die is the hardest thing I ever had to do.
I blame all the dusky ones and the gibs me dats. Sue them.
It’s already established law that police have no legal obligation to risk their lives to protect anyone.
But paramedics do?
What about firemen?
They aren’t army medics, so they can’t be expected to go into a war zone.
If the area was an “autonomous zone” then what were they doing calling for city services? Take care of your own problems.
The 16-year-old was voluntary a passenger in a vehicle in which the driver rammed a barricade set up by people who claimed to be their own independent governing body.
The driver is liable under the felony-murder rule, and the rioters are liable because they shot the victim.
I looked up the definition. A key element is establishing a medical relationship . The EMTs never did that.
EMTs make $25.00 an hour. Or, get the hell out of Dodge when you see a car with a guy riding shotgun on the hood. Who said he was unarmed? The other rioters? They had just attempted to kill a 16 year old from California in a car at 3 a.m. with a 14 year old.
The wife ,likes real life cop/murder shows...”Body Cam” is one and it showed one where an officer was seriously wounded, but they wouldn’t allow EMT folks to tend to him until the area was deemed safe and controlled - why should it be different for civilians?
Here’s an idea.
Don’t start of become involved in *mostly peaceful protests*.
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