The family of a 30-year-old Black man who died during an intense training exercise at the San Francisco Police Academy in August is demanding a better explanation for how he died and millions in compensation from the police department.
Jon-Marques Psalms was a fit and healthy cadet participating in his 14th week of training on Aug. 20 when he suffered a head injury, and a gauze bandage was placed on his head, according to a government claim filed on behalf of his estate and his parents , Christina and Marcus Psalms, by attorney Brad Gage this week.
Later that day, Psalms fainted during hand-to-hand combat drills in which a training officer wore padded “RedMan” protective gear and acted as an attacker. Psalms was rushed to a nearby hospital via ambulance and spent two days in intensive care before he died.
Padded-suit training drills have involved serious injury and death among other police trainees, including a Santa Clara County sheriff’s cadet who collapsed while participating in a RedMan drill in 2020 and spent hours on life support before he died at a hospital, just days before his academy graduation, the San Francisco Chronicle reported…