Texas probing Dallas Fire-Rescue over alleged improper patient care, including in Tony Timpa death

The state health department is investigating Dallas Fire-Rescue over complaints of improper patient medical care dating back to at least 2016.

In separate reviews by Texas’ Department of State Health Services, four fire department employees since April have had their paramedic licenses placed on probation, including two staffers who were on scene during the 2016 killing of Tony Timpa in Dallas.

All four medics are still currently working for Dallas Fire-Rescue and are allowed to perform their duties, according to the fire department. They could face more severe punishment if other violations are found.

The state’s health department confirmed an active investigation involving the fire department to but declined to provide details until the case is closed. A spokesman said active EMS complaints and information received during investigations are confidential under state law.

Fire-Rescue Lt. Robert Borse said in a Monday night email to Dallas’ mayor, council members, and top city and fire staff that the health department’s consumer protection division was “conducting several investigations involving either DFR as a whole or individual employees.” He also mentioned in the email the four employees who have had their licenses as paramedics or emergency medical technicians put on probation — called “probated suspension” status. The state determined they failed to follow proper procedures in caring for patients.

Borse didn’t name the four employees. He wrote that elected officials and others were being notified after the fire department received inquires on Monday from The News about the ongoing state investigation and the penalized staffers.

Dallas Fire Chief Dominique Artis told The News on Tuesday that the state investigation involves a review of several complaints involving incidents dating back to at least 2016. He said his department was working with the state “on a number of different issues that are just trying to make our EMS system better.”

Borse said in his email that the fire department disputes complaints related to the ongoing state investigation.

Medics on probation

Two paramedics and two EMTs have been placed on probation after a state investigation into three separate incidents, including Timpa’s death.

According to state documents, the health department initially proposed revoking all four Dallas employees’ paramedic and EMT certifications. But they all negotiated deals that allowed them to hold onto their licenses and instead be put on probation.

Two paramedics, Curtis Burnley and James Flores, were each placed on two-year probation — Burnley in June and Flores in April — related to Timpa’s death in northwest Dallas after the 32-year-old called 911 for help on Aug. 10, 2016. He reported he was suffering from schizophrenia and depression and hadn’t been taking his prescription medication.

Timpa died after being handcuffed, zip-tied and pinned to the ground with an officer’s knee in his back for 14 minutes while crying out for someone to help him. Body camera footage obtained by shows first responders waited at least four minutes after Timpa became unresponsive to begin CPR. The video also shows one of the medics injecting something into his arm as he’s laying face down.

The state determined Burnley and Flores failed to intervene even when it first appeared that Timpa became unconscious, according to a health department notice of violation. It also found that Flores gave Timpa a sedative used in minor procedures — Versed — as Timpa was being held down while Burnley watched, and neither immediately reported it to supervisors. They both falsified Timpa’s patient care report, the state documents said.

“You engaged in conduct that resulted in physical and emotional abuse/injury to a patient when you responded to a call involving a patient restrained by a police officer by handcuffs on both hands and legs,” according to state documents in Burnley’s and Flores’ cases. “Specifically, as the highest medical authority on the scene of the call, you failed to intervene on behalf of the patient in accordance with your medical director’s protocol.”

Burnley was also found to have “engaged in conduct that jeopardized health and safety, in the assessment and treatment of a patient,” during a separate incident in January 2020. There were no other details in the state documents about what occurred then.

In separate investigations, the state placed EMTs Landon Melzer and Paul Uresti’s licenses under a one-year probation in April for an incident that occurred in February 2020.

The state found they failed to properly assess and treat a 16-year-old patient who appeared to have a diabetic and mental health emergency. The state also found that they didn’t take the teen to the proper medical facility, state documents say. The state also found Melzer and Uresti didn’t properly document the teen’s condition, symptoms and other vital information in their patient care reports, and neither insisted that the other properly treat the teen.

It’s unclear from the health department’s order or violation notice what happened to the teen.

Flores has worked for the city since September 2006; Burnley since October 2008; Uresti since March 2013; and Melzer since November 2015, city records show.

Messages left by at numbers listed for Burnley, Melzer and Uresti were not immediately returned late Tuesday. A man who picked up at a number listed for Flores and identified himself as “James” hung up on a reporter.

State investigation

Borse said in his email that the ongoing state investigation includes “additional allegations,” but he didn’t specify what those were. He said the city attorney’s office is seeking advice from outside counsel to help represent the fire department.

“DFR does not typically comment on or disclose specific details regarding investigations involving individual employees,” Borse wrote.

He noted in the email the fire department first received notice of a state violation in May 2020 related to the August 2016 death of Timpa along with a proposed fine, but never mentions what happened with the possible financial penalty.

The city first received a violation notice related to the second case in October 2020, Borse said.

The fire chief declined to talk about specific cases linked to the current state investigation, saying that the city is cooperating.

“In a system as large as we are, there are going to be times when you get investigated, and the state has to investigate all complaints made to determine if there’s any validity to it. That happens on a regular basis,” Artis told The News. “What we try to do is make sure we prepare ourselves, work with our partners in the state … to make sure we understand and can objectively look at the results and make any needed changes.”

State records show Dallas Fire-Rescue was last issued fines by the state health department in 2002.

Chris Van Deusen, a department spokesman, said the state no longer had the records documenting the reason for the penalties nearly 20 years ago.