Woman Mistakenly Declared Dead By San Antonio EMS: Has Died From Her Injuries

Brian Chasnoff
Express-News
A Texas State University senior who was presumed dead after a traffic collision and left unattended in the wreckage for more than two hours in near-freezing temperatures died of her injuries Monday afternoon, officials said. Chief Apologizes for Comments /

Erica N. Smith, 23, was pronounced dead at Brooke Army Medical Center at 2 p.m., two hours before Fire Chief Charles Hood held a news conference at which he refused to accept responsibility for the misdiagnosis of her condition.

Smith — who at the time of the crash was alive, suffering from a head injury and in critical condition — was left early Sunday without aid at the site, covered in a yellow tarp, while two others who had been in the same vehicle were taken to BAMC with non-life-threatening injuries.

The driver of the other car, Jenny Ann Ybarra, 28, was taken to University Hospital for a blood draw and because she had complained of back pain, police said. Ybarra was later charged with intoxication assault.

It was not known late Monday whether earlier treatment would have saved Smith’s life, or the extent of her injuries when she arrived at the hospital. But the two-hour lapse between the time of the crash and when Smith finally received care upset at least one of her relatives.

“It is unfathomable to me that my little cousin sat, bleeding, under a tarp and in the cold while receiving no medical attention,” wrote Kimberly McGuire, a cousin of Smith’s, in an e-mail to an Express-News reporter. “I can’t help but wonder if her injuries would be less severe had she received the prompt medical treatment she deserved.”

Emergency medical personnel often cite the “golden hour,” the 60 minutes between a person’s critical injury and the moment before the body begins to shut down.

Hood, standing before a throng of news cameras on Monday, would not say how the paramedics determined Smith’s condition, saying only that they generally check for vital signs, which can be compromised in cold weather.

The low temperature on Sunday — the wreck occurred just before 4 a.m. — was 29 degrees.

“The paramedics, when they were doing their job, they didn’t think they were missing anything,” Hood said.

But according to a police officer familiar with the incident, police told paramedics at least twice that the woman was still breathing.

“They kept telling everybody, ‘No, she’s not. … She’ll die in a few minutes,’” said the officer, who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak about the case.

Hood said the incident is under review, and the paramedics involved are expected to return to work Wednesday for their regular shifts. He said the review’s findings likely would remain confidential in accordance with current law.

“I don’t foresee any discipline for (the paramedics),” Hood said, adding, “There’s nothing to apologize for. We weren’t driving the vehicle that hit the car.”

According to the police report, a team of four paramedics responded to the head-on collision shortly before 4 a.m. at Loop 410 near Rigsby Road. Smith, in the front passenger seat of a Honda Accord that police said had been struck by Ybarra, was covered with a tarp. Assuming she was dead, the medics instead worked to “save the most savable victims,” Hood said.

A medical examiner’s investigator arrived at the scene at 5:14 a.m. Shortly before 6 a.m., after determining that Smith was not really dead, a second team of paramedics arrived to treat her, the report said.

Hood, who became chief of the Fire Department in April, said he visited Smith’s family at BAMC for half an hour on Monday to express his sympathy.

“It was difficult, man. I was in tears,” Hood said. “You can’t describe the amount of grief in there.”

Ybarra, the driver of the other vehicle, was released Sunday from Bexar County Jail after posting $5,000 bond.

Police said Ybarra’s gray Pontiac GS veered into an oncoming lane on Loop 410, striking the Honda Accord. Sabrina Shaner, 22, the Accord’s driver, and backseat passenger Amber Wilson, 22, suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

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An early Sunday morning collision with a drunken driver injured two women and claimed the life of a third, police said. At least that’s what emergency medical personnel originally thought. www.ksat.com / Click Here for Video /

Erica Smith, 23, was driving on Loop 410 with two passengers when the vehicle driven by 28-year-old Jenny Ybarra was driving the wrong way and collided with Smith’s vehicle near Loop 410 South and Rigsby Road, police said.

Ybarra was legally intoxicated, police said.

When emergency personnel and police responded to the scene of the crash, a yellow sheet was draped over Smith, a normal practice by EMS at the scene of a fatality.

But when the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office responded to claim the body, investigators found Smith to still be alive.

EMS was called back to the scene and transported Smith to Brooke Army Medical Center for treatment. Reports indicate up to two hours passed before Smith was taken to the hospital, where she was in critical condition Sunday night.

Ybarra has been charged with three counts of intoxication assault, charges which police said could be upgraded if Smith dies.

The declaration of Smith as a fatality is under review, an EMS spokesperson said.

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Victim, assumed dead at accident scene, was alive

Brian Chasnoff and Vianna Davila
Express-News
An investigator with the Bexar County medical examiner’s office made a surprising discovery early Sunday upon arriving at the scene of a traffic collision to examine a body.

The person wasn’t dead.

“On arrival, the medical examiner’s investigator noted the victim appeared to be breathing and was trapped in the vehicle,” a statement issued by the medical examiner’s office said. “EMS was called to the scene and took charge of the victim.”

Officials on Sunday guarded details of the incident. A video taken for KSAT-TV shows a victim at the scene draped in a yellow sheet — a typical procedure when someone is killed.

Police spokesman Joe Rios said he would not comment on it because the Police Department is not responsible for pronouncing people dead. Randy Jenkins, spokesman for Emergency Medical Services, said Sunday evening that the incident is “under review” but that he couldn’t elaborate because the technicians involved in the incident had gone home and could not be contacted.

A Seguin woman was charged with intoxication assault in the wreck after her car crossed into the opposite lane of traffic on Loop 410 and slammed into an oncoming vehicle, police said.

Jenny Ann Ybarra, 28, was charged by proxy from University Hospital, where she was taken for a blood draw and because she had complained of back pain, Rios said.

Her bond was set at $5,000, according to the Bexar County Magistrate’s Office.

Rios said Ybarra’s gray Pontiac GS was on Loop 410 near Rigsby Road just before 4 a.m. when it veered into the oncoming lane, striking a Honda Accord.

A medical examiner’s investigator was called to the scene at 4:29 a.m. and arrived at 5:14 a.m., the statement from the medical examiner’s office said.

All three people in the Accord were taken to Brooke Army Medical Center.

Sabrina Shaner, 22, the Accord’s driver, and back-seat passenger Amber Wilson, 22, suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries, Rios said. Front-seat passenger Erica Nicole Smith, 23, was in critical condition Sunday afternoon, according to Rios.

Bobby Smith, Erica’s Smith’s younger brother, said in a telephone interview Sunday night that Wilson and Shaner already had been released from the hospital, but his sister remained hospitalized with head trauma.

Bobby Smith, 21, said he hadn’t heard about the incident involving the medical examiner’s office. He said his sister, a senior at Texas State University, had been trapped in the Accord and that emergency workers had to pry her out.

“It took her way too long to arrive at the hospital,” he said.

Ybarra was the only passenger in the Pontiac.