These are some highlights of the eighty-minute interview and appear strange out of context, but are worth a read nonetheless. Discussing the EMTs, who were not trained to the level necessary to respond to the call:
Mother: So to answer your question Jen, in some ways, yes, I have higher certification level than a Level 2 and possibly a Level 1. I don't know if Level 1 can do epinephrine, I don't know how or the extent of what a Level 1 can do. But a Level 1 can do intubation, which would be higher than what I can do, but...and they can give breath, which is certainly what I have been trained to do.
So this is the main reason why, when I was in the ambulance, and attempting to give breath to Michael, they stopped me, because they see this as an invasive technique, and they see it as something that you have to be very specially trained to do.
. . .
Mother: Well, there was a holiday, and that also is where it gets into that murky water, of whether or not they had already predetermined Michael DOA, before they even sent them, because if they felt that this was gonna be a DOA call, the two Level 2 Certs would have been completely acceptable to come and take care of things. Whereas a Level 1, who's probably get paid more, maybe gets some extra money when they go on a call - I don't know how that works - but a Level 1 is not necessary on a DOA.
After discussing the police officers hired to stand outside the sauna:
Mother: The jimjilbang was threatening to sue me because I had said the name of the sauna in a lot of different public places. And so I had been prevented from actually saying the name of the sauna, but they are free to say where I work, and I have already been given a little talk by my supervisor on three different occasions, and so this is something that is very much affecting my job.
I still come to class, I do my work, I've done my grading, I fulfil my duties, but it's - I have caused problems in a very public way, and the place of my employment's name has been attached to that, and they're not happy. They're not happy.
So I'm probably not going to be fired, because I do have a lawyer now, but I probably will not be renewed, either, and that's just how it is.
Discussing some of the witness accounts of past problems at the sauna:
Mother: Yes, that they have had problems with that sauna before. One witness said that he went into the sauna and was there just to shower very briefly, he wasn't soaking or anything, and he noticed that there was a gentleman there who everyone else bowed to if they had to cross in front of his path, they bowed to him. If they came past where he was sitting and soaking they bowed to him, and he thought that was really odd. This guy is, you know, he's Korean. He's a Korean man, and he's lived in Korea, he is Korean, you know, and he thought this was very odd, because usually, you know, if everybody is in the sauna you're all kind of equal.
Interviewer: Yeah.
Mother: The whole disrobing thing is an equalizer. And so he was getting dressed to leave, and it turned out the important person had a locker near his. He said that in the time that it took for him to dry off and get dressed, and we know men take a long time to do that, four different men came up to this individual and basically kind of paid a tribute of "How are you today, I'm so happy to see you're in good health," some sort of little thing like that, and bowed to this guy. And that's just a weird thing to happen. The other witness talked about seeing the same types of behaviour and that it really seemed like there was some sort of alleyway gang that was operating out of the sauna.
Interviewer #2: Oh.
Mother: So there were types, there were type of individuals who frequented the men's side who have a tendency towards violence is basically what we're being told. The other two witnesses that came forward, the lawyer won't tell me exactly what was said; he doesn't want to upset me, but he has told me that it does involve some type of minor conflict, and it does involve an employee of the sauna.
Interviewer: Oh.
Mother: Yes. Okay, so the other two witnesses have talked about there being a conflict, and it doesn't sound like it's a physical conflict. More of like some exchange of harsh words, and it does involve an employee of the sauna. And one witness was willing to go to the police and give his statement; the other witness said that he did not want to go to the police because he is currently being blackmailed by this group. And this person is afraid for his well-being and his family's well-being, because he's currently being blackmailed. Now, it seems really bizarre, but why in the world would these people just make this stuff up and tell this kind of thing? I mean it's just.
Interviewer #2: Yeah.
No more vigils:
Mother: At that time, there were some things that happened that made us very uncomfortable, and so because of the ever increasing tension around the beef riots, we have decided not to hold any more vigils, so the June 1st vigil was the last one, because I don't want to endanger the few people who do show up, and at the same time I don't want to, you know, be accused of inciting problems by aggravating the sauna. The sauna has had a huge drop in business. They now have a banner listing sales: 20% off on something. They have lost business, and so I don't want to provoke the people - the employee - involved, because if something happens to me, who's going to pick up the cost? And so, no more vigils.
Seeing his body and noting some irregularities:
Mother: And so I put my nose in his hair. I just wanted to breathe in his scent, because I knew this was going to be my last chance. So, this chlorine smell was so strong, on the top of his head, it actually made my sinuses inside my nose tingle. Because I took...you know I just sucked in - trying to suck in his essence. And I thought: “Oh! What is this?” There's, you know...and his hair was stiff. The top of his head, his hair was stiff, and my first thought was, “My God, how much do those men pee in the tub, that they've got to have this much chlorine in the water!?” I mean that's disgusting.
But then behind, you know, I'm rubbing his head, and I'm talking to him, and behind his ears, the hair is soft. It's not stiff with chemicals. So, in talking with the medical consultant in Seoul and we're trying to figure out this liver thing, it occurs to me. Pool chemicals can be highly toxic. You can, if your hands are dry and the chemicals are dry you can pick them up and touch them with your hand. If you were to pick up the chemicals and touch them with your hand and put them on someone's wet hair, when the chemicals - …
Interviewer: Uh.
Mother: Go ahead.
Interviewer: Yeah yeah; I'm listening, I'm figuring out what you're about to say.
Mother: Uh-huh. Uh-huh. So if somebody, like you know, an employee with a history of violence, who probably has a key to the chemical closet, knows where it's kept, knows what it does, but probably just thought it was going to be a prank of some sort, were to grab it, and put it on somebody's wet head, it immediately begins to form fumes.
Interviewer #2: Right.
Mother: Go ahead.
Interviewer #2: I used to do some pool maintenance, so, I’m imagining the pool fumes.
Mother: When I grew up in Texas, it was really really hot, my family was by no means wealthy, but [even] the poorest of families - if you scraped together you had a wading pool in the back because it was so hot. And we would shock the pool and the chlorine smell was so strong it was similar to a shock: a shock treatment, and you can't go in the water for 24 hours after this has happened. So I'm thinking, why is the top of his head stiff with chemicals, but behind his ears is not? And why would it even be on his head? You don't put your head underwater in the pools at the sauna. People don't like that, it gets hair in the drains...
Interviewer: Well, not hair first, you know, not top down, I mean maybe...
Mother: Yeah, sometimes you might kind of dip a little bit, but with that much chlorine, why didn't his skin smell like chlorine? Because like when you go to the beach, you know, you're in that salt spray, you've left the beach, you've gone back to your hotel room, and your skin and your hair still have that salt spray kind of smell. There's perfume marketed for that. So why wasn't his skin smelling like chlorine?
. . .
Mother: The point is that this frothy fluid that is coming out of the lump in his trachea is dripping and has flooded into the bronchi. And we don't test to see what that is? We don't think it's unusual? And especially with this unexplained liver thing going on? But they were very quick to jump to, you know, a childhood liver problem.
I've also had someone very rudely, cruelly suggest that my son might have been an alcoholic. Now, he's fourteen years old. And I, in all honesty as a parent, I cannot say he's never snuck a beer behind my back. I can't say that because he probably did. You know? He's a teenager. They do those kinds of things.
. . .
Mother: So some Korean people have stated that I have been making Korea look bad, because I said before that Michael was coughing and retching and that nobody helped. Well, if the chemical thing is true, he definitely was coughing and retching from the fumes. But if the chemical thing is not true, and they test and find that this is not a possibility, the next conclusion is, goes back to what the Koreans don't want to hear. That Michael's body was in distress and in that water for over thirty minutes as people came and left and no one did anything about it.
Interviewer # 2: Wow.
Mother: Yeah. So from the medical consultant in Seoul, those are my possibilities. He was either in the water a really long time -and he was very leery about giving me a time frame, but he - you know, we're talking longer than thirty minutes. It has to be at least longer than thirty minutes, probably closer to an hour, before you're going to have that type of lung damage and bleeding. Whereas the chemical exposure thing would have - if Mike had passed out, his liver continued to operate, his liver continued to detoxify, it continued to build up these little - little socket - little pouches of toxins. Well, for the liver to continue to work for a while like that, maybe Mike was still breathing, which means maybe he wasn't in the water at that time.
On the push for a second autopsy and the obstacles encountered:
Mother: . . . And now we're pushing for a second autopsy, because we feel that there's enough holes in the first autopsy, some unexplored areas. Because the police, if you'll remember I mentioned earlier, they gave the report out, The Seoul Times, the Chosun Ilbo, and I think maybe the Korea Herald have already published and run the story. It's already archived, forgotten, in the past: Mike had a heart attack.
“It was heart problems.” The chief of police who gave quotes to the reporters stated heart problem, and the last sentence clearly says ‘heart or liver damage’. And according to the cardiac specialist ‘heart damage would be the lesser of the two’. It would be more likely to be the liver problem, because you cannot determine arrhythmia based on this test, and based on his medical condition and the meds that were taken. It's purely conjecture that he had arrhythmia. They're latching on to that because that's the easier thing to cling to and just let it be done.
So last Friday, well, the past two weeks I've been trying to get a second autopsy. And it's been up and down, up and down, and it's very traumatic and I'm sick and tired of it but it has to be done.
. . .
Mother: . . . Koreans don’t like the theory that Mike suffered for a while and no-one did anything. Well if they don’t like that theory and they don’t want that theory expanded to “Oh, Mike being in the water for 30 minutes to an hour before he was discovered” – if we don’t like that theory – help me get a chemical analysis done on his hair. Help me get an analysis done on the lump that was in his trachea.
You know if we want to show that the Korean people are not cold, and that Korean people don’t callously watch people die and turn their backs and walk away then why not do these tests? Why not help me get these tests done so we can prove Korean people involved did everything they could do to save Michael from the sauna to the ER. And it’s just not possible because someone had chemically poisoned him. That to me would be a huge face-saver.
. . .
Mother: . . . So the really sad thing that I have to face is knowing that evidence is there that hasn’t been examined, lumps that produce enough froth to flood the bronchi are there that are not examined. Toxin packets/ pockets are developed in the liver that could be antibiotics or could be alcohol but alcohol is ruled out by the blood tests so again like the edema, like the swelling in the brain, they don’t go back and address the issue.
So once cremation is done there’s nothing to go on except the autopsy report. And sometimes I wonder if that’s the police’s intention: just to stonewall me to the point where we run out of money and we have to do the cremation and that’s our only choice.
As was mentioned on the podcasts, you can stay up-to-date via the Mightie Mike website. The site reported that a Mississippi newspaper carried the story on June 20th, available here.
1 comment:
Thank you for posting this.
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