Paramedic choked 63-year-old to death, laughed as hospital tried to save him, suit says

A paramedic tackled a “clearly confused and panicked” 63-year-old man and choked him for nearly two minutes as a police officer handcuffed him, according to a new federal lawsuit filed over the man’s death.

Kevin Dizmang was unconscious, in handcuffs, for almost seven minutes before he was put on a stretcher and taken to Penrose Hospital in Colorado Springs, where emergency room staff tried to save him before he was declared dead on Nov. 15, 2022, a complaint filed Feb. 13 says.

Outside of Dizmang’s hospital room, Nick Fisher, the Colorado Springs Fire Department paramedic, bragged and laughed about taking him down while staff performed chest compressions on Dizmang, according to the complaint.

Dizmang was experiencing a mental health crisis related to PTSD and schizophrenia that day, according to his family, when a Colorado Springs Police Department crisis response team involving Fisher and Officer Sean Reed responded to his “psychotic breakdown,” the complaint says.

The team is supposed to help people in crisis, according to the complaint.

Instead, Fisher fatally choked Dizmang at the “direction of other members of the (crisis response team),” including Reed, the complaint says.

Dizmang’s daughter, Kenda James, who is also a paramedic, told KKTV she has guilt over calling 911 about her father.

“In the time that my family needed help from my fellow first responders ... it ended up killing my father,” she said.

James filed the wrongful death lawsuit against Fisher and Reed, accusing them of unauthorized and excessive use of force against Dizmang.

Fisher no longer works for the Colorado Springs Fire Department, public information officer Ashley Franco told McClatchy News on Feb. 14.

She said the department can’t comment on pending litigation.

Reed still works for the Colorado Springs Police Department as an officer, the department’s public relations manager, Ira Cronin, told McClatchy News on Feb. 14.

“He is in a new role with the department by his choice. Officer Reed did not face any disciplinary action from the incident,” Cronin said.

Reed and the department will not be commenting on the pending lawsuit, according to Cronin.

The paramedic and police officer’s response

When the crisis response team, including Fisher, Reed and a licensed clinician, responded to Dizmang in November 2022, they saw him walk into the street and into traffic outside his mobile home, according to the complaint.

When officer Reed approached Dizmang, who was “bent over with his hands on his knees,” he asked for Reed’s help, the complaint says. Then, Dizmang walked “further into the road” in “an obviously confused manner.”

As Dizmang was pacing in circles, Reed said “sit down or put your hands behind your back” and grabbed Dizmang’s left arm, indicating he was going to arrest him, according to the complaint, which says there was no reason to do so.

“No officer had any information that Kevin had or was about to engage in any criminal activity,” the complaint says.

Ultimately, Dizmang walked away from Reed and headed into a nearby area with trees, saying “‘no’ and ‘please don’t’ all while breathing heavily and in an obviously stressed and panicked state,” according to the complaint.

That’s when Fisher aggressively tackled Dizmangand put him in a chokehold for 30 seconds, resulting in Dizmang becoming motionless, the complaint says.

As Fisher had his arms wrapped around Dizmang neck, Reed handcuffed him behind his back, according to the complaint.

Afterward, Fisher put Dizmang on the ground, face down, and pushed on his neck and face with his hands while laying on top of him with his body weight for about 45 seconds, according to the complaint.

Dizmang, while wholly unresponsive, was having trouble breathing, the complaint says. Then he was left in handcuffs for several minutes before he arrived at the hospital.

In the emergency room, when Fisher laughed with a nurse and police officer, Fisher told the nurse it was his “first time taking someone down with this job,” the complaint says.

He likened doing so to “high school football,” according to the complaint, which says the nurse responded by saying, “Well good form homie” after acting out a football tackle.

The autopsy

After an autopsy and review of body camera footage, the El Paso County Coroner’s office determined Dizmang’s manner of death as a homicide, the complaint shows.

The office ruled his death was caused by cardio-pulmonary arrest due to physical restraint, which was seen in the footage the office was provided with, according to the complaint.

Dizmang’s other causes of death were listed as acute methamphetamine intoxication, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma, cardiomegaly, diaphragmatic paralysis and obesity.

Although the police and fire departments declined to comment on the lawsuit, Franco and Cronin provided McClatchy News with a joint statement issued by both departments on Feb. 15, 2023.

“Anytime a community member dies, we are saddened at the loss of life….Unfortunately, even with all of the training and expertise on this (crisis response) team, we can’t control every factor involved in an interaction with a community member such as the actions, underlying medical conditions and intoxication of the involved person prior to our involvement,” the statement said.

Dizmang’s death was investigated by the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office before the office referred it to the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office for review, according to the statement.

The district attorney’s office ultimately decided criminal charges against Reed and Fisher weren’t warranted, the Associated Press reported.

One of the attorneys representing the lawsuit, Kevin Mehr, told KKTV that the chokehold used by Reed against Dizmang “at the direction of these police officers ... is expressly prohibited by law.”

In a statement provided to McClatchy News, Mehr said “this senseless killing was caused by a team of individuals whose sole purpose was to help people in crisis. Kevin Dizmang had not committed any crimes. He was in crisis.”

“The paramedic then had the audacity to joke about what he had done, on camera, while ER staff attempted life saving measures on Kevin Dizmang in the background. This homicide has been devastating for Kevin Dizmang’s family and they demand justice,” Mehr added.

With the lawsuit, James seeks to recover an unspecified amount of damages and relief, the complaint shows. She’s asking for a jury trial.

“I have three daughters,” James said to KKTV.“ (Dizmang) was not able to meet one of them. Seeing him with my girls is a big thing.”

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