Family of San Francisco police recruit who died during training sues department

By Carlos E. Castañeda

The parents of a San Francisco police recruit who died last year after having a medical emergency during academy training have filed a wrongful death suit against the department and the city. 

On August 20, 2025, recruit officer Jon-Marques Psalms went into distress after finishing a training exercise and was taken to a hospital where he died two days later. He was 30 years old. The San Francisco Medical Examiner’s Office ruled it was an accidental death caused by rhabdomyolysis from overexertion. 

On Thursday, Psalms’ parents, Christina and Marcus Psalms, announced their lawsuit in front of San Francisco City Hall, along with their attorney Brad Gage, who said he suspects Psalms had participated in an exercise known as “RedMan.” The drill involves recruits elevating their heart rates through calisthenics and then simulating hand-to-hand combat with a physically aggressive suspect while wearing a padded suit for protection.

“It’s brutal,” Gage said. “The problem is, sometimes it’s too brutal, and it’s caused deaths all over the country.”

The lawsuit says the Psalms’ autopsy revealed that he had a preexisting heart condition, and that, combined with the high-intensity exercise, contributed to his death.

“We have to figure out a way for this exercise to be either abolished or monitored better,” Marcus Psalms said. “There is no reason that anybody can convince me that the way I lost my son is justified, because it’s not.”

Gage said the department did not adequately monitor recruits’ heart activity before, during and after the exercise.

“He may have had any number of preexisting medical issues with the heart or elsewhere, all of which, with a proper stress EKG and other monitoring, should have been discovered by San Francisco PD so he would be protected and not subject to death,” Gage said.

“Recruit Officer Psalms death is a tragedy, and our thoughts are with his loved ones,” San Francisco City Attorney’s Office spokesperson Jen Swartz. “We will review the complaint and respond in court.”  

Police have not released information about the training exercise, but the department said it was a course mandated by the Peace Officer Standards and Training.

The lawsuit also claims that a second, independent autopsy showed Psalms had bleeding in his brain that the first autopsy did not disclose. Gage also alleged that the department routinely records the training exercises and that the city has withheld videos and photos of the incident.

“We’ve requested the video, and we’ve asked them to preserve it,” Gage said. “Our concern is that there was a video and that the video would show wrongdoing, and that it’s being concealed.”

Psalms grew up in Southern California and studied and worked in the tech industry in Louisiana before moving to the Bay Area to become a police officer, according to the Police Department.   

Cal/OSHA was investigating the death in addition to the department’s investigation and the city’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.