Parents of police recruit who died after training exercise sue San Francisco

(CN) — The parents of a San Francisco Police Department recruit who died last year after collapsing during a high-intensity training exercise accused the city of causing their son’s wrongful death.

Christina and Marcus Psalms said in a complaint filed in San Francisco County Superior Court that, while police officers were monitoring the so-called red man drill on Aug. 20, 2025 and a nurse was present, that wasn’t enough.

“They’ve relied solely on visual and the recruits’ verbal responses,” the parents say. “Accordingly, defendants had no way of knowing the condition of the recruit’s internal vital signs.”

The supervisory officers, the parents claim, weren’t trained to ensure that the intense, physical training wouldn’t harm the recruits, and they didn’t use electronic monitoring devices keep track of the vital signs of the recruits during the exercise.

The supervisors also didn’t ensure the recruits were properly hydrated, the parents say, despite the risk of exertional rhabdomyolysis — the breakdown of muscles that can result from strenuous exercise in the heat.

Jon-Marques Psalms was 30 years old when he took part in the red man drill at the police academy. The exercise typically involves a recruit fighting with an instructor dressed in padded, red suit.

After the drill, Psalms was lying face down on the ground, and when another recruit tried to roll him over, he collapsed back down, the parents said in their complaint. When emergency medical personnel arrived, he was unresponsive and rushed to the hospital.

“Based on information and belief, exposure to strenuous high-intensity training exercises, was an exogenous factor, combined with Jon’s prevailing genotype triggered cardiogenic hypoxemia and rhabdomyocytolysis as part of his mechanisms of death,” the parents claim in the Tuesday suit.

If their son’s medical conditions had been identified as part of the police academy intake screening procedures, such as a stress exercise electrocardiogram, more likely than not, he wouldn’t have died, the parents claim.

“Recruit Officer Psalms death is a tragedy, and our thoughts are with his loved ones. We will review the complaint and respond in court," Jen Kwart, communication’s director for the San Francisco City Attorney’s office said in an email.

The parents bring claims for battery, assault, wrongful death and negligence, among other causes of action. They seek unspecified damages.

The parents are represented by Brad Gage Law in Woodland Hills, California.

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