Chapter 6
CHAPTER 6
MARSHALL
“Let me tell you about this case,” I say, willing to say anything so that I’m not overwhelmed by Jasper’s dark gaze on me.
He’s still undeniably gorgeous, despite me doing my best to keep my distance in the few days since he started.
Show him what you got , Keith urges in the back of my head.
I shake off those thoughts. This case is too important for grandstanding due to my crush on the young intern and his beautiful, talented mouth.
So, I go through the facts, slowing to be careful to enunciate. If Jasper can’t grasp the reality of what these cases are about, the tragic facts, then he is of limited usefulness this summer.
AIDS/HIV law takes a certain amount of empathy, just as any advocacy. If Jasper wants to pursue this niche as a career path, he needs to be the kind of person who can use the injustice of the world to fuel his work.
Something about Jasper tells me he has that ability. Maybe it was that flash of hurt in his eyes from my too-harsh words on his first day. I don’t know, but something tells me Jasper would be willing to fight for the underdog.
I clear my throat and start telling them about our client, the estate of Fred Ashby. The estate, as it were, is Fred’s surviving sister, Pearl.
Fred was forty-two, in the prime of his life, working as a radiographer at the local clinic in the small town of Trenton. He had moved into administration, something he often told his friends at their weekly meet-up at the local bar was more money and more headaches. But, he saw it as something he could do into the future, even when the usual demands of the job might be too much as he got older.
He coached his niece’s swim team. He was known in the small town for being a good coach and a good friend. Someone you could call if your car broke down. Someone who would say hello and call you by name if he ran into you at the grocery store.
He was also gay. That was well known, too. It was Colorado, known for a certain independent spirit and openness, but it was also a small town, and the tolerance everyone assumed was there was largely untested.
I can feel Jasper listening to the story. Not taking notes, just listening to understand the very real person he will never get to meet, but to whom we owe our best work.
Fred was driving home after taking the late shift on Halloween. He had worked a double shift, and as he had no children himself, he was known to volunteer on kid-friendly holidays so his co-workers who were parents could enjoy the time with their children.
He was in an accident, caused completely by a drunk driver. Of that there is no question, no concern. No one, even the driver himself, contends that Fred had anything to do with the accident other than being at the same four-way stop.
This case is not an automobile case. It is not an accident case or personal injury. It’s a discrimination case, and that part of the story comes next.
The driver of the car, Oliver Trent, was impaired, yes, but he had the presence of mind to call 911 and to go to Fred’s car to give help when he broadsided Fred at the four-way stop. Fred’s car was in a deep ditch off the side of the road because of Oliver’s driving. While Fred was proceeding through the stop at an under-the-limit rate of forty-five miles per hour, Oliver did not see the stop sign and was going well over seventy-five.
Oliver had basic first aid and CPR training. He could see that Fred was struggling to breathe and was able to attempt to perform CPR.
As soon as he started CPR, he was pulled off Fred before he could fully perform the series of compressions and breathing exercises.
He was pulled off by an on-duty officer, Stanley Holmes. Holmes not only stopped the compressions and CPR series, he told Oliver that Fred had HIV. Oliver still attempted to render assistance, but Officer Holmes did not allow him to continue, citing Oliver’s safety due to Fred’s HIV/AIDS status.
Officer Holmes then stood between Oliver, other bystanders, and the vehicle with Fred until EMTs arrived. All of this is something Oliver will tell you himself. He was impaired but his story of what happened at the intersection that night has never changed. It is also the same story documented in Holmes’s own police report.
When they arrived, the EMTs immediately began CPR and demanded to know why CPR had not been done yet at that point.
All officers are trained in CPR. They are required to up their training yearly. Officer Holmes was fully trained in CPR. The EMTs knew that and were shocked that it had not been performed.
Despite the efforts of the EMTs on site and the efforts of those at Valley County General, where Fred was taken, Fred succumbed to his injuries.
A doctor who was there, an EMT who was there, and doctors who reviewed his file can all testify that if he had received the CPR that Oliver offered, then he likely would have survived.
They will also tell you that the chances of contracting HIV from CPR is almost nonexistent.
But, it would not have mattered in this case.
Fred did not have HIV or AIDS. Not at all. But, he was gay, and Officer Holmes knew that.
And being gay was enough.