Therapist Says Police Denied Aid

A respiratory therapist on Tuesday accused a Ventura police officer of preventing her from aiding the victim of an automobile accident who later died.

A Ventura County coroner’s investigator said Michael Hammetter probably would have died from his injuries despite any medical efforts at the accident. But the therapist, Lisa Rasmussen, is demanding that the Ventura Police Department explain the officer’s conduct.

Rasmussen, trained in first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation, said she tried to help Hammetter, injured July 8 on Foothill Road, but the officer told her to stay away. In addition, he made no attempt to render first aid, she said. Hammetter died early the next day.

“I want to know why it happened and what they’re going to do to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” said Rasmussen, 24. “There’s no excuse.”

Rasmussen said she neglected to find out the officer’s name, and Lt. Pat Rooney, a spokesman for the Police Department, said it is unclear which of three officers may have spoken to her.

The Police Department has launched an internal investigation into the accident as a result of Rasmussen’s complaint, Rooney said.

Rooney said the department has no policy on when citizens are allowed to help victims at accidents. Situations are evaluated on a case-by-case basis, he said.

State law says that care of a patient can be legally turned over to the highest medical authority at the scene of an accident, said Julie Bridges, assistant administrator of the county’s Emergency Medical Services.

In this case, Rasmussen, with two years of respiratory therapy training, had a higher level of expertise than the police officer, said Barbara Brodfuehrer, administrator of the county’s Emergency Medical Services.

However, it is also the public safety officer’s duty to carefully screen any citizen offering aid, Brodfuehrer said.

Coroner’s Investigator James Wingate said that regardless of first aid performed at the scene, Hammetter probably would not have survived the accident.

But that is beside the point, Rasmussen said. She said that either the police officer should have given first aid or she should have been allowed to help.

Rasmussen, a Ventura resident, said she stopped on her way home from a date when she saw a man slumped in the front seat of his wrecked car. She said she ran to Hammetter’s side and checked his breathing and heart rate. Someone already had called 911, Rasmussen said.

A few minutes later, the therapist said, she noticed a police officer arrive and met him halfway between his car and the accident, explaining that she was a respiratory therapist and that Hammetter needed an ambulance.

The officer walked over to Hammetter, tried to establish whether the man was conscious and put on rubber gloves, Rasmussen said.

Shortly thereafter, she said, Hammetter vomited. He had slouched sideways in the seat and the vomit remained in his mouth, she said, causing her to worry that his air passage might be blocked. Hammetter’s breathing became very shallow, she said.

But when Rasmussen asked the officer if he had a pocket mask--a plastic device that allows mouth-to-mouth resuscitation without touching the victim--he told her to “stand back,” she said. She said she obeyed the officer but soon approached again when Hammetter appeared to have stopped breathing. She said she reached toward Hammetter, explaining to the officer that the victim’s head should be lifted to clear his air passage.

“He said, ‘Would you just get the hell back and let the Fire Department do their job?’ ” Rasmussen said. However, Fire Department rescue workers had not arrived, she said.

“I was shocked,” she said. “I couldn’t believe what he was saying.”

About two minutes later, she said, the Fire Department arrived and she left.

Ventura police officers receive 36 hours of training in first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. But Rasmussen said that during the four to five minutes the officer was at the scene, she saw him give no first aid.

“There’s no reason first aid or CPR should be withheld,” Rasmussen said. “If somebody there can help, it’s appropriate to let them help.”

Rasmussen works at Cottage Crest Home Medical Equipment in Santa Barbara. She regularly visits 200 patients who use the firm’s equipment. She graduated from a two-year specialty school approved by the American Medical Assn. and has a California license for respiratory therapy.