» Missing Earl

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — The days don’t get easier for Rose Washington (pictured, left) and the family of Earl Moore Jr.

Monday marked the first anniversary of his death. Washington still can’t believe her son is gone.

“I wish there was something I could do to bring him back.”

On Dec. 18, 2022, Springfield Police were dispatched to a home on North 11th Street for a person who reported several people inside with firearms. Upon arrival, officers found Earl Moore Jr. who was suffering from hallucinations due to alcohol withdrawal.

Officers recognized that he needed medical assistance, and requested an ambulance.

Police report at approximately 2:18 a.m., the ambulance personnel arrived and were escorted into the residence. Peggy Finley made contact with the patient and instructed him to walk to the ambulance.

The body camera footage released by police shows that Moore was not able to walk and the medical personnel were not offering any assistance.

The body-worn camera footage shows the medical personnel placing Moore on the stretcher in a prone position (face-down) and securing him to the stretcher before transport.

The Springfield Police Department was later notified Moore had died after arriving at the hospital.

According to the Sangamon County Coroner, Moore’s cause of death was most likely due to compressional and positional asphyxia due to prone facedown restraint.

On Jan. 10, 2023, the Sangamon County State’s Attorney charged LifeStar Ambulance workers Peter Cadigan and Peggy Finley with first degree murder.

Both pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Moore’s family retained Attorney Ben Crump and Bob Hillard and filed a civil lawsuit against Life Star Ambulance, Springfield Memorial Hospital, Cadigan, and Finley.

Attorney Bob Hilliard stated, “Had Earl’s vitals been checked during his transport to the hospital, as was standard medical procedure, it would have been immediately apparent that he was in grave and life-threatening danger from being tightly strapped face down on the gurney. Instead, this man, a son, and a loving brother, was to slowly and painfully suffocate inside of an ambulance filled with all the medical equipment necessary to have saved him.”

Despite paramedics being trained not to place individuals in the prone position, defendants Cardigan and Finley rejected that training. The failure to follow proper protocol directly led to Moore Jr.’s death, the lawsuit alleges.

“The video is so shocking because they offer Earl no consideration. From the moment they get there, it is like a hostile encounter. Earl was screaming out for help – saying ‘help me’, ‘help me’, ‘help me’. The police understood he was reaching out for help. But the EMT workers – gave him no professionalism and no humanity. It’s barbaric. They treated Earl inhumanely,” remarked Attorney Ben Crump.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with Earl’s mother, Rose Washington, and his three sisters ShiKira Brooks, Mahogany Moore, and Chatara Moore, as the first anniversary of Earl Moore’s death approaches. We will never forget Earl Moore Jr., and we will never forget his name. We stand united with the family and will continue to fight for justice for Earl.”

As for Moore’s family, they wear buttons with Earl’s photo on them. The family shared with WAND News that people will often ask about him and they will share memories.

“I just think about him all the time. Sometimes I laugh, sometimes I cry, but I look at his picture all the time”, said Washington.

Cadigan and Finley will appear again in court for their criminal case at the end of January.