The parents of former NFL running back Doug Martin have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Oakland, Calif., its police department and an ambulance company, alleging that the 36-year-old died at the hands of police, and paramedics’ slow response to police calls for care.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, claims Martin died from restraint asphyxia “caused by Oakland police officers and the FALCK NORCAL paramedics’ failure to provide timely medical care.” Martin later died at a hospital.
Filed by Martin’s parents, Leslie and Douglas, the suit alleges that Leslie called paramedics in response to her son having a mental-health crisis on Oct. 18. Martin then fled and hid in a neighbor’s house two doors away, where the Oakland Police Department found him in the basement, according to the suit.
The suit claims that police physically restrained Martin and placed him “face down while one or more officers pressed on his back.” When officers turned Martin on his side, he was unresponsive, at which point the suit alleges that the officers thought he was “sleeping or pretending to be asleep.” An officer requested medical assistance when Martin remained unresponsive.
Martin’s parents believe that Martin did not receive immediate medical attention, with Falck Northern California paramedics arriving more than 15 minutes after the call for service was placed, according to the suit. “When they arrived,” the suit said, they “did not promptly provide medical care.”
“They just want to know what happened,” John Burris, the family’s attorney, told The Athletic. “Here’s a situation where the mother was calling for help. He was emotionally out of it, and she was calling for help.
“When you call for help and the police come, it’s not a death warrant. You don’t expect the person to die.”
Burris said an independent pathologist, whom he would not identify, told the Martin family that the former NFL running back potentially died from restraint asphyxia. Burris said he would identify the pathologist when necessary to name them as an expert witness.
Martin’s parents are seeking damages, including for wrongful death, hospital and medical expenses, coroner’s fees, funeral and burial expenses, loss of support and familial relationship, among several others.
Burris says he has not yet received the autopsy and toxicology reports from the Alameda County Coroner’s office as he was told the case was still under investigation. He said he filed several public record requests for the reports that were denied for this reason. The Athletic reached the coroner’s office and confirmed that the case is still under investigation, which it says is why the autopsy reports haven’t been released.
Burris asserts that, coming on seven months, the process for an autopsy should have run its course and the family should have found out what happened to their son. He explained that traditionally toxicology reports take six to eight weeks while the “actual autopsy is done immediately.” This suit is an attempt to force the the disclosure of these reports.
“I get it, it takes time,” Burris said. “I made a request for it, I expected to receive it, but I haven’t. The lawsuit had to go forward in order for me to make sure I get the material I need in a timely way.
“…We’re entitled to have it. Once the lawsuit is filed, then the normal processes of going through a lawsuit takes place. One of the processes is we get the records, and we have to subpoena those records, and then they’ll have to respond to them.”
The Oakland Police Department told The Athletic on Wednesday night that it does not comment on pending litigation and referred all questions to the Oakland City Attorney’s Office. When reached by The Athletic, the office said it also did not have comment.
Falck Northern California could not immediately be reached for comment.
Burris said that Martin’s mother sent her son’s brain to Boston, where the Boston University CTE Center operates, to determine whether Martin suffered from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, which can only be diagnosed postmortem. Although the pathologist told Burris that the determination of CTE “really has no consequence as it relates to the cause of death,” the family wants to understand what state Martin’s brain was in.
Martin, who was born in Oakland and raised in Stockton, Calif., made first-team All-Mountain West Conference at Boise State before being drafted in the first round by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2012.
Over his seven-year NFL career, Martin rushed for 5,356 yards and 30 touchdowns. He was a two-time Pro Bowler and a first-team All-Pro selection in 2015, when he was second in the league in rushing with 1,402 yards. Martin signed a five-year, $35.75 million contract with Tampa Bay in 2016.
The end of his career was marked by several injuries and disciplinary issues regarding substance abuse.
In 2016, Martin was suspended for four games for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy and announced that he intended to enter a treatment facility after testing positive for Adderall. He was released by Tampa Bay in 2018 and spent his last season with the Oakland Raiders before being released in 2019 after an injury in training camp.
Former Buccaneers teammate Gerald McCoy told The Athletic a day after Martin’s death that he hadn’t spoken with Martin in a while. However, McCoy, a three-time All-Pro, said that he had recently spoken with former Carolina Panthers teammate George Iloka, who said he had just seen Martin.
“He said he had the biggest grin on his face, the biggest smile,” McCoy said of Martin, known to many as the Muscle Hamster. “Just full of life, like Doug always was. Doug loved to dance. He loved to tell jokes. He loved to have a great time.”
