By Jacob H. Fries
St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Copyright 2006 Times Publishing Company
CLEARWATER, Fla. — A paramedic with more than 20 years of experience lied about the death of a man he couldn’t revive with a defibrillator because its batteries were dead, city officials said Friday.
Dwayne “Chris” Vaughn, 47, has had his paramedic’s license revoked and faces further discipline after an internal city investigation found inconsistencies in reports he completed regarding the death of Thomas C. Tipton.
Vaughn and a second paramedic tried to resuscitate Tipton, 34, of Tampa, who went limp on April 5 after being Tasered, handcuffed and restrained facedown by three Clearwater police officers.
The paramedics, however, could not use a portable defibrillator because they had left the device turned on earlier, draining its batteries, officials have said. Tipton was pronounced dead a short time later.
It was unknown whether a defibrillator shock at the time Tipton went limp could have saved his life, officials say.
Medical examiners determined Tipton died from asphyxiation, which resulted from his being restrained facedown on a patio as officers compressed his chest. Alcohol in his system might have hastened the asphyxia, Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe concluded last month.
After the incident, Vaughn, as is standard procedure, produced several documents related to Tipton’s care. He printed an internal log generated by the defibrillator itself, but later admitted he removed sections, officials said. He also wrote in a patient care report that Tipton had a normal heart rhythm, something he couldn’t have measured without a working defibrillator.