SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Two Illinois EMS workers are facing first-degree murder charges after how they treated a patient on Dec. 18, according to the Springfield Police Department.
Sangamon County State's Attorney Dan Wright charged Peggy Finley and Peter Cadigan for the death of 35-year-old Earl Moore Jr. on Dec. 18, according to criminal complaints.
In newly released bodycam footage, police responded to a call from a neighbor of Moore. Moore was at the neighbor's house and said Moore was possibly having hallucinations from alcohol withdrawal.
Police tried talking with Moore before requesting EMS assistance. Later, EMS workers Finley and Cadigan arrived to provide assistance.
In the video, Finley can be heard yelling at the patient to "sit up" and "quit acting stupid." Later she says, "I am seriously not in the mood for this dumb [s---]."
Cadigan is seen handling Moore roughly as he's placed on a stretcher face-down and strapped down. Police said Moore died after arriving at the hospital, but the autopsy said his death by asphyxia was directly linked to being placed in the face-down position.
A representative for LifeStar Ambulance Service, Inc., which employs Finley and Cadigan, told ABC News "no comment" regarding the ongoing investigation.
If Finley and Cadigan are found guilty of first-degree murder, they could serve up to 60 years in prison.
Illinois law defines first-degree murder as such:
A person who kills an individual without lawful justification commits first-degree murder if, in performing the acts which cause the death:
- He or she either intends to kill or do great bodily harm to that individual or another, or knows that such acts will cause death to that individual or another; or
- He or she knows that such acts create a strong probability of death or great bodily harm to that individual or another; or
- He or she, acting alone or with one or more participants, commits or attempts to commit a forcible felony other than second-degree murder, and in the course of or in furtherance of such crime or flight therefrom, he or she or another participant causes the death of a person.
The raw bodycam footage from Sangamon County Government is available below: