Following the tragic passing of Eric Moore Jr., emergency medical technicians (EMTs) Peggy Finley and Peter Cadigan were taken into custody and charged with first-degree murder.
However, The Shade Room has learned that an appellate court granted Finley a bond reduction, which made it easier for her to cough up the cash required to leave jail while she awaits trial.
RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Illinois EMT Workers Charged With Murder Of 35-Year-Old Black Man | TSR Investigates
A Court Of Appeal Reduced Peggy Finley’s Bond By $400K
As reported in a February installment of TSR Investigates, the situation unfolded after authorities responded to a call on Dec. 18, 2022.
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Police bodycam footage shows Finley barking at Moore, who was experiencing the effects of alcohol withdrawal, to “sit up.” She also tells Moore, “I am not playing with you.”
Once officers transported Moore to the stretcher, he was placed facedown before being strapped in by Cadigan. However, Moore was strapped so tightly that he ultimately passed away of “compressional and positional asphyxia due to prone facedown restraint on a paramedic transportation cot.”
Both Finley and Cadigan were charged with first-degree murder and given $1M bonds. While the latter remains behind bars, an appellate court has granted Finley a reduced bond of $600K. Subsequently, she swiftly posted the required 10% of her bond ($60K) to be released.
People Involved With The Eric Moore Jr. Case Chime In: “Both Of Them Should Be Still In Jail”
In response to the decision, Teresa Haley — president of the NAACP’s Illinois branch — tells Justin Carter for TSR Investigates, “This is a crime of murder, so both of them should be still in jail.”
“It lets Black people know that we are continu[ing] not to be treated fairly here in the great state of Illinois.”
Meanwhile, Finley’s defense attorney, W. Scott Hanken, acknowledges that it’s “very rare” for a bond reduction to be granted in a murder case. However, he tells Carter that, ultimately, Moore’s passing wasn’t Finley’s fault.
“She in no way, shape, or form physically placed the gentleman on the gurney and she is not the one who tightened the straps down. So the two things that the state says caused his death, she did not do.”
As for Sangamon County State Attorney Dan Wright, he tells The Shade Room that the decision “doesn’t diminish [their] confidence in the case based upon the law.”
Check out the full update down below.
