A Chicago Fire Department investigation is still incomplete over a year after paramedics failed to treat a gunshot victim as he lay in the street dying, although the department says it has new rules to avoid the “tragic error” in the future.
Erin Carey, 17, initially survived a gunshot wound to his head early June 18, 2018, but was placed under a white sheet by paramedics and “left for dead” for over an hour, according to a lawsuit filed June 17 by Carey’s family in Cook County Circuit Court.
Five other people were also shot — one of them fatally.
Shortly after the shooting, TV cameras captured Carey moving under the sheet for at least 15 minutes before a paramedic uncovered him and began CPR. Carey, who had graduated that month from Evanston Township High School, died hours later at a hospital.
The fire department took measures shortly after the incident to prevent another death like Carey’s.