The family of Jon-Marques Psalms is ordering a second autopsy after the medical examiner’s report confirmed he died as a result of a high-intensity training exercise at the SF Police Academy. The family’s attorney says Psalms was tackled and disarmed by an opponent wearing a padded “RedMan” suit.  

As the Chronicle reports, the San Francisco chief medical examiner confirmed that Psalms, who was 30 years old, suffered a medical emergency, as previously reported by SFist, resulting from severe physical exertion from the police training exercise, which simulates hand-to-hand combat. He died two days later from massive organ failure. As KRON4 reports, the cause of death has not been released, and Psalms’s family is demanding answers from the city and police department. They’re raising funds via GoFundMe to order their own autopsy.

“My older brother, Jon-Marques Psalms, passed away on August 22nd for reasons that we aren’t fully aware of yet. Jon passed away after participating in a training exercise for the SFPD, San Francisco Police Department,” Psalms’s brother Malik Psalms wrote on the GoFundMe page. “The highly controversial ‘Street Cop Training’ exercise that led to his passing has left our family with more questions than answers, and sadly, the City of San Francisco and the Police Department have not provided us with the clarity and support that we need during this time.”

Additionally, as the SF Standard reported last week, the family retained attorney Bradley Gage from Southern California, where Psalms grew up. Gage is also currently representing San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus in a lawsuit against the county. The Standard says Gage has won major cases against the LAPD, and he represented Biggie Smalls’s family in a wrongful death lawsuit, in which they were awarded $1 million in sanctions before the case was dismissed.

Per the Standard, Gage says that Psalms died after participating in a defensive training exercise referred to as “RedMan,” in which the recruit is tackled and disarmed by an opponent wearing a red padded suit, like the one pictured below. (See the promo video further down of the suit in use during training.) Gage told the Standard that Psalms lost consciousness after the “RedMan” exercise. After he regained consciousness, he then collapsed and was rushed to the hospital.

“We have more questions than answers at this point, but what we do know is troubling,” Gage told the Standard. “A perfectly healthy young man went through training at the police academy. As a result of that training, he has now left the earth. Why did this happen? How did it happen?”

Gage also told the Standard that shortly after Psalms’s death, an SFPD captain went on temporary leave and another high-ranking officer was transferred. “You do not have both a lieutenant and captain [moved] essentially within days of a tragedy unless the department already has found alleged wrongdoing on their part,” he said.

The Chronicle reports that the case is still under investigation by Cal/OSHA, and the SFPD is conducting an internal investigation. Per the Chronicle, in 2020, a Santa Clara County sheriff’s cadet collapsed during a RedMan drill and died after being on life support for several hours. The paper also reports that padded-suit drills were banned in Massachusetts after a recruit lost an eye in 2016.

“Cases like this are tragic, no matter how you look at it. In this particular case, it appeared there [were] problems with the way the training was carried out, which led to a death. People should not die when they are training to become a cop,” Gage told the Standard.

Image: GoFundMe

Previously: 30-Year-Old SFPD Recruit Dies From Medical Emergency During Training Exercise