Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

No medics at rodeo prompts questions

The fact that no medical team was on hand when a 15-year-old cowboy cracked his head at the Boulder City Open Rodeo has left some residents fuming.

Roger Hall, the city's director of parks and recreation, said it was the Boulder City Horseman's Association's responsibility to provide medical care at the rodeo it hosted.

"It was on private property," Hall said of the association's corral off San Felipe Drive near the Boulder City Airport. "It was up to them to ask the city to be there."

But city officials said the request never came.

Shortly after noon Saturday, when Adam Turner straddled a 1,500-pound bull for his fateful ride, the Boulder City Fire Department's rescue team was about eight miles away responding to the U.S. 93-95 overpass where a truck hauling an RV had caught fire.

The Boulder City Police Department's emergency dispatchers received a 911 call from the corral at 12:20 p.m. The log reflects that the fire department was notified at 12:21 p.m. The fire department's rescue team asked Flight for Life's helicopter pilot to stand by at 12:26 p.m., and then requested the helicopter to head to Boulder City at 12:30 p.m. when the rescue team arrived at the corral and evaluated Turner's condition.

"I'm not happy with the nine-minute response," said Fire Chief Dean Molburg.

For the past three years, the team has averaged a three-minute response time to any destination in the city. Saturday's delays were attributed mostly to traffic congestion around the truck fire scene.

"No one at the rodeo had a cell phone," Molburg said. "They had to go running around to find a pay phone to call 911."

The ambulance met Flight for Life at the landing pad at Boulder City Hospital, about a mile from the corral, and flew Turner to University Medical Center in Las Vegas.

Turner remained in critical condition today at UMC. Doctors have not released their prognosis regarding the Boulder City High School student's injuries from hitting the bull's head with his own.

All minors entering the event were required to have their parents or guardians sign waivers releasing the association from liability, authorities said.

Still, a handful of residents voiced concerns that medical care should have been on hand during the event.

"It took the paramedics 30 minutes to respond," one woman said, declining to give her name. "The police took just as long. They didn't come until after the paramedics, and when they did, they came flying into the corrals where there were small children, horses and livestock all around. ... It's a joke."

The police log contradicts the woman's accusation as far as response time from the moment dispatchers received the 911 call, and police were required only to assist with the fire department's rescue.

"If we would have been notified of the event in advance, we would have been there," Molburg said. "The Horseman's Association said they were planning to notify us, but somehow (making the call) got overlooked."

But a woman answering the Horseman's Association's phones said today the group did notify ambulance services to be at the rodeo.

"An ambulance was at the rodeo," she said. "It was here. It had another call and it was called away."

Molburg disagreed, saying that if there was a separate emergency, he would have been notified.

"That's completely wrong," he said. "We provide the emergency ambulance services for Boulder City. We're the only agency in town who provides it. If they had a rescue unit out there, I have no clue where it would have been called away to."

And if a private ambulance was at the rodeo earlier, he said, "We weren't aware of it."

As for the timeliness of treating Turner, Molburg said: "I'm sure it would have made a difference in timely transport. He would have been to UMC sooner. Would it have made a difference on his overall condition? I'm not a doctor, I don't know that."

The fire department has had a rescue team at past events when requested, and in other cases increased its rescue staff to ensure additional support would be on hand at the station should the primary team be called out elsewhere, Molburg said.

"Several guys on our crew are members of the (Horseman's Association), and we know the (Turner) family," Molburg said. "It's a shame, and our hearts and prayers go out to Adam. ... We're a close-knit community here in Boulder City, and this has impacted all of us. But our rescue team did everything they could. It's their job to save lives, and they performed to the best of their abilities."

SUN REPORTER Cathy Scott contributed to this report.

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