SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (WXYZ) — Southfield Fire Chief Johnny Menifee blasted attorney Jeffrey Fieger for "erroneous statements" in the woman who was found alive at a Detroit funeral home.
On Sunday morning, Southfield Fire Department paramedics responded to a home for an unresponsive woman, identified as Timesha Beauchamp. When they arrived, the fire chief said Beauchamp wasn't breathing; after standard efforts to revive her, first responders determined after about 30 minutes that she was deceased.
Hours later, staff at the James H. Cole funeral home realized Beauchamp was still breathing.
“Because there was no indication of foul play, as per standard operating procedure, the Oakland County Medical Examiner's Office was contacted and given the medical data. The patient was again determined to have expired and the body was released directly to the family to make arrangements with a funeral home of their choosing,” the chief said in a statement.
"It’s one of people's worst nightmares to imagine having an ambulance called and instead, sending you off to a funeral home in a body bag. The funeral home unzipping the body bag, literally, that’s what happened to Timesha, and seeing her alive with her eyes open," Fieger said Tuesday.
However, Menifee said that the claim of Beauchamp in a body bag is absolutely untrue; he said body bags are not part of standard operating procedures for both Southfield Fire and Southfield Police.
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Menifee also said that Fieger claimed the police department did not contact the Oakland County Medical Examiner, which is untrue; Menifee says police contacted the medical examiner and relayed their findings before they left the scene.
Beauchamp is in critical condition at Sinai Grace Hospital and is on a ventilator.
