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(WWJ) Four Southfield firefighters and paramedics involved in the case of a woman who was declared dead, then found to be alive, have been placed on paid administrative leave.
Timesha Beauchamp, 20, opened her eyes last Sunday, just before she was about to be embalmed at a funeral home in Detroit.
Speaking to WWJ's Jon Hewett and other reporters on Wednesday, Southfield Fire Chief Johnny Menifee described the sequence of events that morning, after emergency responders were called to Beauchamp's home.
"They checked her vital signs on three separate occasions. Each time Miss. Beauchamp didn't show any signs of life," Menifee said. "At each intersection with medical science, our paramedics and the patient showed no signs of life."
Menifee did acknowledge that family members on the scene thought Beauchamp was alive and breathing, and relayed that to fire personnel at the scene.
"The fire department immediately grabbed their equipment, went in and reassessed her," Menifee said. "At no time did they find her breathing."
The bizarre incident, which made headlines nationwide, is now being investigated by the City of Southfield as well as the Oakland County Medical Control Authority.
Menifee said this is a "unique" and "unsettling" case.
"I know the family's hurting, and these firefighters are hurting also," the chief said. "The department's hurting, the city's hurting, our community's hurting with this. We want to have these answers and we plan to get these answers."
Menifee took time to address what he called erroneous statements made by attorney Geoffrey Fieger, who was hired by Beauchamp's family, saying the notion that Beauchamp was placed on a body bag while alive is absolutely untrue.
Fieger, who called the scenario "one of people's worst nightmares," said precious time was wasted by taking Beauchamp to the funeral home, while she should have been receiving necessary medical treatment.
"They were about to embalm her, which is most frightening," Fieger told reporters. "Had she not had her eyes open, they would have begun draining her blood to be very, very frank about it."
Beauchamp, who has cerebral palsy and has had trouble breathing all her life, remains in critical conditions on a respirator at Sinai Grace hospital.