Firefighters Mishandled Son’s Injury, Woman Says in Claim

A Trabuco Canyon mother is seeking $500,000 from Orange County because firefighters allegedly endangered the life of her son, who had been struck by a pickup truck, by canceling a call for paramedics and downgrading the urgency of the ambulance call.

As a result, it took more than an hour to get 6-year-old Christopher Cox to a hospital, according to a claim that is being filed by Sharon Secor, the boy’s mother.

County Fire Department officials have admitted that the paramedics call was canceled, but they say that the urgency status of the ambulance, which arrived at the scene 21 minutes after the 7:48 p.m. call was received, was never changed.

“The ambulance call was never downgraded,” Kevin Brame, a county Fire Department battalion chief, said. “It is normal ambulance procedure to drive to the scene of an accident without red lights and sirens.”

“The only real change was that the paramedic unit responding to the scene was canceled,” he said. “That was done after the engine company (personnel) evaluated (the boy) and made their determinations.”

On June 28, Christopher was struck by a pickup driven by Gorgonio Zamora Moreno, who then careened through two fences and smashed into the side of Secor’s pickup.

Christopher, who was walking home from a friend’s house on the other side of the street, was thrown five feet over an embankment. He suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, Secor said.

Secor’s claim alleges that Christopher’s life was endangered by canceling the paramedics call and delays in getting medical attention for her son. She contends that these delays were caused by faulty handling of the incident by the Fire Department.

“The alleged injuries that rise out of the incident are possible complications to the arterial hemorrhaging of the brain due to the delay occasioned by the Fire Department’s actions at the scene,” Gene E. Dorney, Secor’s attorney, said. “In addition, we are alleging that there was negligent infliction of emotional harm to the mother and to the minor’s sister, who witnessed the scene.”.

Dorney said that he will take the case to court if the county does not grant the $500,000 claim within 45 days, the stipulated time for a response. “I think we have a very strong case. . . . The liability is clear,” Dorney said.

The firefighters who assessed Christopher’s injuries at the scene and canceled the call for paramedics had been given emergency medical training up to Level 1, which consists of 120 hours of courses, fire officials said. By comparison, paramedics have 1,100 hours of medical training, according to Fire Department requirements.

In Secor’s opinion, the firefighters attending her son did not make the right decision and would not listen to her pleadings.

“The Fire Department totally screwed up as far as I’m concerned,” she said in an interview. “They thought there was no problem.

“I pay taxes like the next person, and I had to beg them to help my son. It was obvious that he needed medical care.”

During the ordeal, she said, firefighters kept assuring her that the boy would be all right.

At one point, she said, one firefighter told her that he was not even certain that the boy had been hit by the truck.

“The emotions started to turn to anger. I realized that my son was not going to get any help,” she said. Christopher arrived at the hospital a little after 9 p.m., more than an hour after the call was placed with the Fire Department, she said.

“When we pulled up to the hospital, he didn’t even know me,” she said.

Secor said that she, along with other residents, have been trying to get speed bumps installed to force drivers to slow down on Trabuco Oaks Drive, a rural canyon road with uneven pavement and dirt embankments.

Neighbors estimated that Moreno was traveling at 45 to 50 m.p.h. in the 25-m.p.h. zone when he went out of control and hit Christopher.

Secor said she doesn’t even feel that justice was done in the case of Moreno.

“I have a problem,” she said, that he is “only getting a drunk-driving misdemeanor charge.”

Moreno, 23, of Trabuco Canyon, was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor drunk driving, taken to County Jail and later released, California Highway Patrol spokesman Ken Daily said.

Secor complained that the charge should have been a felony because of the extent of her son’s injuries.

“In most cases, if it’s not a real disabling injury or not real visible, the (district attorney) will not file as a felony, only as a misdemeanor,” Daily said. “Some officers just go ahead and book them on a felony and let the (district attorney) go ahead and reduce the charges.”

“In that area, it’s what we call a wobbler. It could go either way,” he said. “I can’t figure out why it wasn’t a felony.”

All the explanations offered provided no solace to Secor.

“I feel like the Fire Department owes the (people of the) county an apology,” she said. “We don’t know who we can call if we need help. We’re an accident waiting to happen out here.”