The family of former NFL running back Doug Martin has sued the city of Oakland, its police department and an ambulance company, alleging their actions contributed to the circumstances surrounding his death. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, says Martin died after a mental-health crisis met the familiar machinery of state force, delayed care and institutional denial.
Who Had the Power
Martin’s parents, Leslie and Douglas, say they believe he died from restraint asphyxia, which they allege was caused by Oakland police officers and the FALCK NORCAL paramedics’ failure to provide timely medical care. Martin was later pronounced dead at a hospital. The suit says Leslie called paramedics on Oct. 18 after her son began experiencing a mental-health crisis.
Instead of care arriving as a lifeline, Martin fled and hid in a neighbor’s house two doors away, where the Oakland Police Department found him in the basement. The lawsuit says law enforcement officers physically restrained Martin and placed him face down while one or more officers pressed on his back. When officers turned Martin on his side, he was unresponsive, and the suit says officers thought he was sleeping or pretending to be asleep.
The family alleges that at least one officer requested medical assistance while Martin was still unresponsive. Even then, the response was not immediate enough, according to the suit, which claims Falck Northern California paramedics arrived about 15 minutes after the call for service was made. When they arrived, the suit says, they did not promptly provide medical care.
What Help Looked Like From Below
John Burris, a lawyer representing the family, said, “They just want to know what happened. Here’s a situation where the mother was calling for help. He was emotionally out of it, and she was calling for help.” Burris also said, “When you call for help and the police come, it’s not a death warrant. You don’t expect the person to die.”
Those words land with the force of a system that turns distress into danger. The family’s account centers on a mother seeking help for her son during a mental-health crisis, only to face police restraint and a medical response they say came too late. The lawsuit frames the sequence as a failure of both policing and emergency medicine, with the people at the bottom paying the price for decisions made by armed officers and contracted responders.
Burris added that an independent pathologist, who was not named, told Martin’s parents that restraint asphyxia may have been their son’s cause of death. Martin’s parents are seeking damages, including for wrongful death, hospital and medical expenses, coroner’s fees, funeral and burial expenses, loss of support and familial relationship, among several others.
The Paper Trail and the Silence
Burris said Martin’s mother sent her son’s brain to Boston, where the Boston University CTE Center is based, in an effort to learn whether he developed chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a disease that can be diagnosed only after death. He said the pathologist told him that a CTE finding “really has no consequence as it relates to the cause of death,” but said the family is seeking a clearer picture of Martin’s brain health.
The Oakland Police Department has a policy of not publicly commenting on pending litigation. Fox News Digital was referred to the Oakland city attorney’s office, which also did not offer comment on the case. Representatives for Falck Northern California could not immediately be reached for comment.
Martin, an Oakland native, closed out his NFL career with the then-Oakland Raiders in 2018. Before that, he spent six seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who selected him in the first round of the 2012 NFL Draft. He received a four-game suspension in 2016 for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy. After testing positive for Adderall, Martin revealed plans to enter a treatment program. Martin finished his NFL run with more than 5,300 rushing yards and was named to two Pro Bowl teams. He played college football at Boise State.