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A year after SFPD's first known recruit death, his family still seeks answers · Best of: Features

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  A year after SFPD's first known recruit death, his family still seeks
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  answers. Written by Olivia Hebert. This article is being read by an
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  automated voice, generated by Everlet. On the morning of august twentieth, twenty
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  twenty five, Christina Psalms, was preparing to fly to the Bay Area
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  for work, when an officer from the San Francisco Police Department called
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  shortly after nine AM. Her son, San Francisco Police Academy recruit John
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  Mark Salms, a seemingly health man of thirty with a blue belt
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  in Brazilian jujitsu, had become dehydrated during a drill and was being
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  taken to UCSF Medical Center, the officer told her. They wanted to
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  check him for possible rhabdomyolysis, a potentially life threatening condition caused by
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  the rapid breakdown of muscle tissue due to severe overexertion. The most
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  I'm thinking is its heat exhaustion, dehydration, Christina told S F Gate
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  in May. In my mind I was just going up there to
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  get him Gatorade and do my job and come back home the
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  next day. But when she arrived at the hospital hours later, she
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  found her son surrounded by ten medical workers. He had been placed
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  on dialysis and, after going into cardiac arrest, a
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  life support machine that oxygenated his blood. He was fighting for his
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  life. Two days later, John Marks became the first known recruit to
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  have died during Academy training in San Francisco Police Department history. He
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  was thirty. It's a death that his parents believe could have been
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  prevented. In the years since his death, his parents have sued city
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  and police officials alleging excessive force, failures to intervene, wrongful death, and
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  negligence. We don't have the full picture. In May of twenty twenty
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  five, John Mark Salms walked away from a Silicon Valley tech sales
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  career to pursue a childhood dream, becoming a police officer. Honestly, I
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  thought there was a greater chance of him calling me one day
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  saying he was moving out the country. Christina Psalms recalled to S.
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  F. Gate of her son's career change. But he always had this
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  need to look out for people. He enrolled in the San Francisco
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  Police Academy, joining Recruit Class two hundred and eighty six in may
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  twenty twenty five, and eventually became team leader. Seemingly healthy and active,
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  John Marks was also a runner and golfer. According to his parents
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  lawsuit, he had no known health condition that would have prevented him
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  from safely participating in training. But just three months later he collapsed
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  shortly after a training exercise commonly known as a red man drill,
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  a scenario based defensive tactics exercise meant to simulate physical encounters officers
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  could face in the field. Before the combat portion, recruits performed strenuous
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  calisthenics designed to sharply elevate their heart rates, according to the lawsuit.
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  The drill takes its name from the red suits donned by participants,
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  which consist of thick, protective segmentations covering the head, torso, hands, legs,
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  and groin, allowing them to absorb strikes during simulated confrontations with instructors
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  during training. It's supposed to simulate what it would actually be like
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  in the field. John Shane, a professor at John Jay College of
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  Criminal Justice, and a former police officer, explained to S. F. Gate
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  that's the rationale. It was this drill where John Marcus family say
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  something went wrong, leading to his death. The family’s lawsuit alleges SFPD
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  trainers required John Marks to participate without adequately screening him for underlying
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  conditions or continuously monitoring recruits vital signs. It also alleges supervisors had
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  not been adequately trained to oversee the exercise. After his death, John
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  Marks was found to have a heart defect called congenital cardiomyopathy and
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  channelopathy, which the family alleges additional screening by the SFPD trainers could
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  have detected. The family's allegations do not stop at medical monitoring. Their
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  amended complaint alleges an unidentified officer injured John Marks head during the
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  drill, causing the brain bleed doctors later treated at UCSF. The family
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  specifically wants to know what happened to John Marks right after the
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  drill finished. The lawsuit alleges that John Marks fellow recruit Michael Russell
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  went looking for him after the drill and a medical check in,
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  so they could compare their performances. Instead, Russell said he found John
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  Marks lying face down on a mat, the lawsuit says. When Russell
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  tried to roll him over, John Marks collapsed again, and while he
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  could state his name and location, his breathing had become erratic, it
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  adds. Russell immediately called for help, according to the complaint. Police personnel
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  tried to administer aid, but by the time emergency responders arrived, John
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  Marks was unresponsive. He was taken by ambulance to UCSF Medical Center.
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  We don't have the full picture of everything that happened that got
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  him to that point in the hospital, Christina said. Can you take
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  the hit? Redman and similar drills have been linked to injuries, and
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  deaths before. Last year an associated press investigation found variations of the
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  exercise are used at academies, nationwide under names including Combat Training, Stress
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  Reaction Training, and Fight Day, with recruits sometimes fighting multiple instructors or
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  moving through A series of confrontations. While exercises like these are common,
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  Shane said it was a rare event that these exercises result in
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  death. According to court documents, since 2005, similar high intensity exercises have
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  resulted in at least a dozen deaths and hundreds of injuries, some
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  resulting in permanent disability. Massachusetts banned Redman drills in twenty sixteen, the
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  AP reported. A Denver police recruit sued after a twenty twenty three
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  Fight Day exercise left him permanently disabled and ultimately resulted in the
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  amputation of both legs, according to a lawsuit. A court dismissed the
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  recruit's federal law claims in twenty twenty five, but an appeal is
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  pending. The exercise is almost more geared toward Can you take the
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  hit? Shane said. I think that's where they lose control. Fragments of
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  what happened. His family said they still do not know how long
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  John Marks was on the ground before he was found, what instructors
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  observed as his condition deteriorated, or what information was relayed to paramedics
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  before he reached the hospital. As John Marks underwent multiple surgeries at
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  them
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  hospital, the family said police officers maintained a constant presence as a
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  revolving door of city officials, including the interim police chief Paul Yupp,
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  Mayor Daniel Larie, and representatives from they San Francisco Police Officers Association,
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  visited the hospital. Everything was dealt cautiously and strategically, John Marcus's father
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  Marcus Psalms told S. F. Gate. Christina said their presence marked the
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  absence of the people she most wanted to hear from, the Academy
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  instructors who had witnessed the training exercise. Where's your teachers? She recalled,
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  wondering. Why am I not having a discussion with them? Instead the
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  couple pieced together fragments of what happened from recruits who had trained
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  alongside their son. Fellow trainees came to the hospital after learning he
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  had been admitted. Despite telling the family that they were discouraged from
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  visiting by Academy officials, Christina said SF Gate reached out to SFPD
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  for comment several times, and was not given an answer as to
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  why more information about what happened they day of John Mark's death
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  was not released to the family. A void that can never be
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  filled. Hours after John Mark arrived at the hospital, his condition deteriorated.
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  Doctors suspected gastrointestinal bleeding, and a CT scan the following morning confirmed
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  an active brain bleed and severe swelling, according to the lawsuit. Physicians
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  presented the family, with two options relieve pressure in his abdomen or
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  perform emergency brain surgery in a last attempt to save his life.
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  We had nothing to lose, Christina said, of authorizing the procedure. Surgeons
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  operated on his brain, but when they emerged, they told the family
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  the bleeding was worse than they initially thought, and The
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  could not stop it. Soon after they said. John Marks no longer
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  showed brainstem activity. When his younger brother Malik reached the hospital, he
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  was met with the devastating sight of John Mark's swollen body. He
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  didn't even look like himself, Christina recalled. You wouldn't even recognize him.
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  The next morning doctors discussed taking John Marks off life support. His
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  family, fellow recruits, and city officials gathered at they hospital before the
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  machines keeping him alive were turned off. John Marks died august twenty
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  second, twenty twenty five. Within the span of forty eight hours every
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  future his family imagined for him, becoming a husband and father, standing
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  beside his brother at his wedding, had been dashed. The Christmases, the
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  birthdays, the weekly phone calls, Christina said. All of that's gone. In
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  The days that followed, the family found themselves at the center of
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  an outpouring of public grief. Mayor Lurie described John Mark's death especially
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  painful, while S. F. P. D. Wrote that his sudden passing has
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  left a void that can never be filled, and held a procession
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  in his honor. For Christina and Marcus, however, the tributes only underscored
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  what The
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  lacked, a clear explanation of how their son died. The search for
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  that answer began with John Mark's body. We didn't trust them. According
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  to the amended complaint, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner performed
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  an autopsy that attributed his death to complications from exertional habdomyolysis, a
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  condition where muscle tissue starts to break down, and hypothermia or overheating.
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  But his parents were troubled. The autopsy report allegedly did not document
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  The
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  brain bleed doctors had tried to treat at UCSF. Too many things
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  were not right, Christina said, of the medical examiner's findings. Marcus added,
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  We didn't trust them. By then Christina and Marcus had already decided
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  to seek an independent autopsy prior to cremating John Mark, knowing the
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  had one shot to get more answers. The family's lawsuit alleges John
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  Marks must have been struck during the drill, but that allegation has
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  not been established in court. Attorney Brad Gage, who represents the Psalms
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  family, told SF Gate said the independent autopsy the family ultimately commissioned
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  also documented the brain bleed. SF Gate has not independently reviewed either
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  of the autopsy reports. S. F. Gate reached out to the medical
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  examiner for further comment about John Marquet's autopsy report, but has not
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  received an answer. The family also sought video of the exercise. According
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  to the lawsuit, the Academy's commanding officer told Marcus he would look
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  for footage, but Marcus said he never received an answer. As of
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  August, Gage said the city had not produced any. The video should
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  exist, Gage said. The say the video does not exist, but it
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  should. There should be something out there. We've asked for it and
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  not received anything. The timing couldn't be worse. After John Mark's death,
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  CalOSHA launched a six-month investigation into the death. The agency issued two
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  serious, accident-related citations alleging SFPD failed to identify and correct hazards associated
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  with rigorous physical training and adequately trained supervisors overseeing those exercises. Cal
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  OSHA proposed 40,500 in penalties. In both citations, investigators
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  tied the violations to August 20, 2025, when John Marks collapsed following
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  training. SFPD appeal the citations, with the hearing scheduled for September second.
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  In its OSHA appeal, SFPD argued that its training practices have adequate
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  safety measures, and that there is currently no definitive means available to
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  any employer for identifying, evaluating, and mitigating an unreported and undiagnosed internal
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  medical condition. See Clay of Rhabdomyolysis. Before the september second appeal hearing,
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  Kal OSHA and the SFPD reached a partial settlement of the citations.
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  The remaining issues on appeal will be heard by the OSHA Appeals
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  Board at a future date. SFPD declined to comment on the matter
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  because the OSHA case is still ongoing. On august twentieth, exactly one
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  year after John Marks collapsed, his family’s lawsuit suffered a serious legal
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  setback when U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler dismissed the federal claims. Beeler
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  ruled that qualified immunity protected they officers under the facts currently laid
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  out in the case. The ruling still allows the family to amend
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  their allegations, appeal the order, or pursue state law claims in State
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  Court. Receiving the decision on the anniversary of John Mark's collapse compounded
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  the family's grief, Gage said, The timing couldn't be worse. The family
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  still plans to proceed with the lawsuit. The city and police officials
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  have largely declined to discuss the case outside of court across the
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  board, deferring to the San Francisco City Attorney's Office. Recruit Officer Somme's
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  death is a tragedy, and our thoughts are with his loved ones.
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  SF City Attorney's Office spokesperson, Jen Quart, told SF Gate, The lawsuit
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  is ongoing, and we don't have comment beyond what we have said
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  in court. Between the city's challenge to the Cal OSHA citations and
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  the family's intention to proceed with their lawsuit, Christina and Marcus have
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  entered the second year after their son's death with the same central
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  question they had inside the hospital What exactly happened during the training
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  exercise? Gage said the lawsuit is intended to force answers. How can
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  a law enforcement agency add to the trauma and suffering for the
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  family by being coy with the information? He said. It raises questions
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  about the code of silence, and creates a lot of suspicion. For
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  Christina, the objective is simpler. I don't know how long my son
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  was on the ground like that, she said. It's my life's mission
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  to find out.