Nichoel Gaither’s family believes she died due to negligence on the part of the Augusta Fire Department, according to her sister Nichelle Gaither.
Family members believe their child and sister could have been saved if EMTs from the department had only tried, Nichelle Gaither said.
On April 21 this year, Nichoel Gaither, 43, suffered a medical emergency and died on the floor of her bedroom, still holding her phone with 911 on the other end while Augusta firefighters milled around her front yard, according to the 911 recording.
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Firefighters at the Gaither home, all of whom are required by law to be certified EMTs, according to the Georgia Public Safety Training Center, waited 15 minutes after arriving at Crest Drive in Hephzibah to enter the home, even though they had permission to break down the door from the woman dying inside.
Police dispatch records show that in the early morning hours of April 21, Gaither, who was employed at Club Car, began experiencing breathing problems that became so acute, she dialed 911 from her bed to request assistance.
A recording of the call shows that Gaither told dispatchers that she couldn’t breathe. The recording becomes harrowing to listen to as Gaither can hear help outside her door while she struggled to breathe.
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“They’re still knocking at the door….I can’t make it…I just fell to the floor…please help me,” Gaither said to the dispatcher.
The call had been joined earlier by Gold Cross dispatch, which immediately sent for an ambulance. The Gold Cross dispatcher specifically asked Gaither if she would give permission for EMTs from the fire department to gain entrance by any means necessary, and three separate times Gaither said yes.
The Gold Cross dispatcher relayed that information to the 911 dispatcher. The 911 dispatcher told the Gold Cross dispatcher that fire department officials, including a supervisor on the scene, said that they were waiting on a Sheriff’s deputy to arrive before forcing their way into the home.
“I mean we, we’ve got it on a recorded line that, uh, she….she consented for them to force entry,” the Gold Cross dispatcher reiterates to the 911 dispatcher. He added, “She’s in obvious distress, she’s, like, getting worse.”
“Okay, I’ll, um, let ‘em know,” the 911 dispatcher responded.
Help would not come to Gaither in time. She was found dead in her bedroom clutching her phone with the Gold Cross dispatcher still talking and trying to reassure her.
Police cameras show that once on the scene, both the responding sheriff’s deputy and Deputy Coroner Ryan Digiacomo were shocked that the fire officials had stood down.
In police body cam footage, an unidentified Gold Cross EMT tells the sheriff’s deputy, “Fifteen minutes from our station, and we got here and fire (department) is standing around going, ‘Well, we’re not sure this is the right house or not. It doesn’t look like anyone lives here.’”
The Gold Cross employee continued press the firemen on the status of the situation. He was told, “We haven’t entered yet,” and his response to the unidentified firefighter was, “You were told!”
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The address to the property is clearly marked on the mailbox, as is shown in police cam footage.
When Digiacomo arrived on the scene, camera footage shows him hearing from firefighters as to why they stood down when they were aware that someone was dying just on the other side of the door from them.
“So, they got here in four minutes but wouldn’t open the damned door and help her?” Digiacomo is recorded on body cam footage as saying.
According to the coroner’s report, Gaither, who beat cancer several years ago and also survived COVID-19, succumbed to a coronary pulmonary embolism, a blood clot that reached her heart.
Gaither’s sister, Nichelle, is a nurse who lives in Columbia, S.C. She says that if firefighters on the scene had acted quickly, Gaither would likely have survived, or at least would have been given the chance to keep fighting.
“I just don’t understand why they didn’t go in there. I just don’t understand it,” Nichele Gaither said
Steven Vincent, vice-president of Gold Cross EMS, said his staff did everything in their power to save Gaither’s life, but his staff is not legally allowed to break down a door.
“They aren’t trained to break down doors and don’t have the equipment, but it is clear from the tapes that our dispatcher pleaded with the 911 dispatcher for the firefighters to gain access,” Vincent said.
District 10 Commissioner and chairman of the Augusta public safety committee John Clarke, says he doesn’t understand why the firefighters stood down while knowing a distressed person was just several feet away from them.
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“I saw the first report about this on Channel 12, and I have to admit, it made me cry,” Clarke said. “It made me cry because public safety is my responsibility as a commissioner, and I could not believe that I was witnessing this amount of incompetence while a beautiful soul was dying and the ones who could have saved her just stood around.”
Clarke said that Gaither’s death happened before current fire chief Antonio Burden took office, but he said he wants to hear from the fire chief about measures that can be put in place to keep such a situation from happening again.
Current Augusta Fire Chief Antonio Burden was unavailable for comment despite repeated requests made to his public information officer and his cell phone.
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Clarke says Burden is scheduled to meet individually with commissioners this week to address the matter. He is uneasy about that method of problem solving, he added.
“I don’t know why he didn’t come and address the public safety committee so that the public could hear directly from him. It doesn’t seem very transparent to me. It just doesn’t sit right,” Clarke said.
Meanwhile, Nichelle Gaither, says she is still struggling with the loss of her best friend.
“She was my big sister and my best friend. I know people make mistakes, but I think people need to be held accountable. I am not going to give up until that happens,” Gaither said.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com.
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