(Iowa Capital Dispatch) – The family of a Sioux City man who died after an EMT allegedly injected him with the wrong drug is suing the city and its emergency medical providers. The family of the late James Joseph Foster Jr. is suing the City of Sioux City, Sioux City Fire and Rescue, the Sioux City Police Department and 10 of their employees in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa.

The lawsuit claims that in the early hours of Aug. 18, 2023, a Sioux City police officer responded to a call about Foster, who was sitting or lying along the curb of a deserted residential street. Foster told the responding officer he had injured his arm, and eventually eight people from the police department and Sioux City Fire and Rescue responded.

According to the lawsuit, the 26-year-old Foster “never posed any threat” to the responders and was instead acting disoriented and fearful, repeatedly moving away from them. At one point, paramedic Deanna LaMere allegedly decided the situation called for the use of a chemical restraint in the form of the incapacitating drug ketamine. With the assistance of other responders, Foster was “held down and injected against his will,” the lawsuit claims. “However, instead of injecting him with ketamine, LaMere injected him with a lethal dose of the paralytic medication rocuronium,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit claims body-cam footage shows Foster soon was gasping for air. Minutes later, Foster lay motionless with his eyes open. In an ambulance en route to a hospital, Foster’s heart stopped and LaMere allegedly called ahead and falsely reported Foster had been given a dose of ketamine.

Foster died two days later, allegedly from an anoxic brain injury due to the administration of rocuronium, according to the lawsuit, whicht claims LaMere falsely recorded in an incident report that she had conducted an advanced life support assessment of Foster when she arrived on scene, although body-cam footage reportedly shows that this was never done. LaMere also is alleged to have falsely recorded that she and her EMT partner had verified the correct dose of the injection administered to Foster,

The lawsuit seeks compensation for past and future economic losses and funeral and medical expenses, plus punitive damages. The city has yet to file a response to the allegations, and a representative of the city’s legal department declined on Tuesday to comment on the case.

Separate from the civil lawsuit, court records show that on Jan. 16, 2025, LaMere was criminally charged with involuntary manslaughter and that she entered a not-guilty plea on Feb. 3, 2025. A pretrial conference in the case is scheduled for July 18, 2025.

State records indicate LaMere’s paramedic license with the Iowa Bureau of Emergency Medical and Trauma Services is in good standing, with no history of public disciplinary action, and that it expires in March 2027.