Witnesses, runners question emergency response time in Nashville marathon death

Multiple witnesses and participants are questioning the length of time it took emergency responders to reach a young man who collapsed in the Nashville marathon on Saturday and later died.

Joey Fecci, 26, a rising local chef, collapsed in East Nashville’s Shelby Park between the 22- and 23-mile marker in the St. Jude Rock 'n' Roll Series Nashville Marathon on Saturday morning.

He was rushed to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The race organization in a statement Sunday said Fecci received urgent medical attention by an on-site medical team.

But witnesses and bystanders, who helped provide CPR for Fecci, expressed frustration over the emergency response time as people frantically called 911 and screamed for medics.

Multiple witnesses said it took paramedics around 15 minutes to 18 minutes to reach Fecci, raising concerns over how well the event was prepared for an emergency on a hot day.

'We kept yelling for EMS'

Anthony Davis, a former Metro Nashville council member who was in Shelby Park to cheer on friends in the race, said he was about 20 yards from Fecci when he collapsed.

“He was just totally flat on the ground,” Davis said.

Davis said he and a friend sprinted to a medic tent several minutes away, as runners and bystanders performed CPR on Fecci.

Runner Craig Ballin said he was directly behind Fecci when the young man suddenly stumbled and fell.

Ballin said he immediately stopped to help as people in the crowd continued calling 911 and wondered why medics had not yet arrived.

“We kept yelling for EMS,” Ballin said.

Davis said there was confusion in the crowd as people called 911 but were unable to give the dispatcher the exact address as it was in Shelby Park. Davis said there seemed to be a disconnect with EMS and on-scene medics.

Davis said it took about 15 minutes before a race medic was on the scene with emergency oxygen for Fecci and another several more minutes before paramedics arrived in an ambulance.

Ballin said he believes the total time was approximately 18 minutes before paramedics were able to get to Fecci.

An avid marathon runner, Ballin said the response time was unacceptable.

“They need to look for holes in areas in the route where they might not be able to get to people as quickly,” he said.

Each year, the marathon closes down big sections of Nashville's streets, making navigating the city difficult.

The Rock ‘n’ Roll organization in a statement on Tuesday said the event includes a comprehensive team of medical professionals and volunteers.

The organization said it works with various local agencies and has “mobile medics (ALS medical carts), ambulances, and medical stations positioned strategically around the courses to respond to medical calls.”

“In this instance and based on current reports, the closest medical station was positioned approximately a quarter mile from the runner needing assistance,” the organization said. “Once we received the call about a runner needing assistance during Saturday’s race, this information was immediately passed along to local medical agencies for rapid response.”

The organization contracted with Ascension St. Thomas for the EMS response.

Ascension did not provide specific emergency response times, but Ascension spokesperson David Leaverton in a statement said emergency personnel “rapidly responded and triaged a total of 75 calls for medical assistance during the race.”

“All calls followed our rapid response protocols and standards with an average response and time to treatment of less than five minutes,” he said.

‘We were screaming for medics’

Amanda Jones Fernandez, an East Nashville mom of two, didn’t have CPR experience but when she saw Fecci collapse as she was watched on the sidelines, she immediately jumped in to help.

Fernandez said she held Fecci’s head in her lap and helped perform CPR for about 15 minutes. People stopped in droves to help, including a woman running in the race who said she was a doctor.

But in the scramble, runners and bystanders were both confused on how to contact and immediately find medics on site. A medic in a golf cart had driven by a few minutes before the incident but it was unclear how to quickly reach that person, a witnesses said.

“We were screaming for medics,” Fernandez said. “At one point I just screamed out, ‘Medic!’ I thought, ‘Where are they?’”

Fernandez said event organizers should have a better system where people know how to quickly find medical help.

“We knew where the music stages were but we had no idea where the medical stages were, and that keeps playing in my mind,” she said.

Davis, who served on the city council from 2011 to 2019, agreed.

He said there could be a system in place where people can call an emergency number other than 911 that would directly reach medics on scene.

While the loss of Fecci is tragic, Fernandez said she hopes his family can find some comfort in knowing that in his last minutes he was surrounded by people who were showing love and fighting for him.

She said many people in the race stopped to say prayers, including a pastor from Atlanta who prayed over Fecci.

“People were just holding him and loving him,” she said. “I truly believe everyone was doing everything they could to help.”

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville marathon death: Witness, runners question response time