The family of Barstow Fire Captain Garret Miller has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Barstow Fire Department, Barstow Community Hospital, Mercy Air Medical Transport (Air Methods), and others, alleging negligence in the events that led to his death last October.

According to the complaint, filed in San Bernardino County Superior Court on September 29, 2025, Miller was on duty at the fire station on October 8, 2024, when he began exhibiting seizure-like symptoms. Crews placed him on a monitor, which showed cardiac dysrhythmias, before he went into cardiac arrest. Fire department personnel intubated him and transported him to Barstow Community Hospital.

The suit alleges that responders at both the fire department and hospital failed to verify that Miller’s endotracheal tube was properly placed. He was then flown by Mercy Air to Loma Linda Hospital. Physicians at Loma Linda determined the tube had been incorrectly inserted into his stomach rather than his lungs, depriving him of oxygen for at least 40 minutes. Miller sustained a hypoxic brain injury and was placed on life support. He died on October 21, 2024, following terminal extubation.

The complaint states:

• Defendants … all failed to check for proper placement of the endotracheal tube. …
• Decedent went at least 40 minutes deprived of oxygen to his brain.
• He suffered a hypoxic brain injury as a result and doctors determined that he would not recover.

Miller’s ex-wife, Nicole Tierney, filed the suit on behalf of their two children, McKenna and Wyatt Miller, as heirs of the estate. The family is seeking damages for wrongful death and a survival action, alleging negligence by emergency responders, hospital staff, and the air transport crew.

The complaint further asserts that the defendants “failed to possess that degree of learning and skill ordinarily possessed by reputable emergency medical professionals practicing in the same or a similar locality and under similar circumstances.”

Captain Miller’s death deeply impacted the Barstow Fire Department and the community he served. He was remembered as a 19-year veteran firefighter and father of two. Barstow city officials described him as a dedicated public servant whose passing left “an immeasurable void” in the department and the community.

Here is a copy of the complaint.