By Kelsey McKinney and Adam Keoloha Causey
The Shreveport Times
SHREVEPORT, La. — The wife of a Shreveport firefighter who died after falling from a fire truck after the Krewe of Gemini’s 2009 Mardi Gras parade is suing the City of Shreveport for unspecified monetary damages and court costs.
Traci Adams, wife of Battalion Chief Tommy Lee Adams, claims her husband’s co-workers were negligent in his emergency care and their violation of policies and procedures prevented quick transport to a hospital, according to the lawsuit filed Feb. 19.
The suit was filed just days before the one-year anniversary of the battalion chief’s fall that led to his death Dec. 12.
At the numerous news conferences and events related to Tommy Adams’ health status, there was never any indication Traci Adams was dissatisfied with her husband’s care.
An opinion piece written by Traci Adams for publication in The Times July 19, states, “I will be forever grateful for those who responded to him in his greatest time of need, the night of Feb. 21, 2009.”
“You have saved us,” she wrote, referring to the “brotherhood” of firefighters who responded to her family’s cry for help. “Thank you for all your hard work, dedication, love, prayers and support. I am forever in your debt.”
Before her husband’s return home, firefighters helped remodel the Adams’ Shreveport home in June to make it suitable for his recovery. At the time, she said, “You can feel the love being built.”
Shreveport Mayor Cedric Glover and Fire Chief Brian Crawford issued the following prepared statement Friday: “The brave men and women of the Shreveport Fire Department are extremely disappointed in the lawsuit filed and the allegations that have been made against the city of Shreveport and its employees by Mrs. Traci Adams. Needless to say, we will vigorously and aggressively defend the lawsuit and will refute each and every allegation in the petition.”
The lawsuit claims:
- The battalion chief’s airway was not properly cleared.
- He was not given supplemental oxygen.
- His spine was not properly stabilized when placing him on the backboard.
- He was taken to WK Pierremont Health Center, as opposed to LSU Hospital in Shreveport, where patients with serious injuries typically are taken.
- He died of “diffuse brain damage” — a direct result of the injuries caused by the Fire Department’s “substandard care” and violation of policy and procedures that prevented a timely arrival to a hospital.
At a press conference days after the fall, Crawford explained that in anticipation of parade traffic en route to LSU Hospital, the ambulance carrying Tommy Adams was redirected to nearby WK Pierremont Health Center.
The ladder truck Tommy Adams toppled from was parked on East Preston Avenue just off of East Kings Highway.
Traci Adams, who is an emergency room nurse, was standing nearby when the fall happened and claims to have witnessed the “substandard care.” As an emergency room nurse, she is more qualified than the emergency medical technicians with whose care she takes specific issue.
The lawsuit goes on to claim she and her two children — named as plaintiffs in the suit — suffered emotional pain and suffering and a loss of financial support.
Tommy Adams’ Fire Department salary was not curtailed during this time and continued until his death. When Traci Adams quit her job to care for her husband, the family lost benefit of this and her husband’s salary from a side job.
Prior to her husband’s death, at least 13 fundraisers — everything from raffles and donation drives to basketball tournaments and crawfish boils — were held to pay for the family’s personal expenses.
And his medical expenses were paid for by workman’s compensation. Tommy Adams’ fall happened while he was off duty, but he had gotten off a shift less than 24 hours prior to his fall, qualifying the injury as an on-duty injury.
Following his death, the city employee life insurance policy gave her a payout and, as Tommy Adams’ widow, she received benefit of her husband’s retirement account.
Republished with permission from The Shreveport Times