SAN FRANCISCO, CA – A federal judge in San Francisco has dismissed a lawsuit brought forth against the city and county by the parents of a police recruit who unfortunately passed away in August 2025 while performing a “strenuous high-intensity training” exercise, with the judge citing qualified immunity among other reasons for the dismissal.
On August 20th, U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler acknowledged the somber nature of the case involving the death of 30-year-old Jon-Marques Psalms, a San Francisco Police recruit who died during a training exercise known as a “red man drill,” with the judge admitting that despite the unfortunate circumstances revolving around the case, she is compelled to side with the government on the matter.
“This is a very sad case, a very, very sad case. The problem is an issue the government raised in its motion; this issue about qualified immunity knocks this case out of the pleading stage. As pleaded, it does,” Judge Beeler stated during the motion to dismiss hearing.
In the original filing brought forth by Psalms’ parents, Christina and Marcus, the complaint alleged negligence contributed to their son’s death, which occurred on August 20th, 2025, during the “red man drill,” which involves recruits physically fighting their PT instructors who are adorned in a padded suit during the exercise. Psalms had apparently collapsed to the ground during the drill and was unresponsive when emergency medical personnel arrived at the academy.
Citing the cause of death in the suit, the complaint further alleged, “Based on information and belief, exposure to strenuous high-intensity training exercises was an exogenous factor, combined with Jon’s prevailing genotype, which triggered cardiogenic hypoxemia and rhabdomyolysis as part of his mechanisms of death.”
The alleged negligence, according to the suit, asserted that supervisory officers monitoring the training regimen weren’t adequately trained to make sure recruits weren’t harmed during the rigorous program, further noting the absence of potential electronic monitoring devices which could’ve been employed to keep watch of recruits’ vitals in real time.
Judge Beeler found that even in the “most favorable” reading of the plaintiffs’ case, the allegations failed to demonstrate “affirmative acts instead of omissions” regarding the “defendants’ conduct,” adding that the complaint also failed to illustrate the alleged “deliberate indifference.”
“For deliberate indifference, the plaintiffs fail to engage with the defendants’ arguments and have not explained how their allegations show that the defendants knew that something would happen to Psalms but exposed him to that risk anyway,” Judge Beeler noted in her ruling.
For all other listed defendants outside the city and county, namely academy and police personnel named in the suit, Judge Beeler leaned on qualified immunity regarding the complaint as presented to the court. While the suit was dismissed as presented, Judge Beeler did give the plaintiffs until September 17th to amend the original complaint if they plan to address the issues outlined in the dismissal.
The family’s attorney, Milad Sadr, acknowledged that “there are issues with the current complaint,” but further added, “I look forward to seeing the court’s order, and hopefully we will be able to amend sufficiently.”
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