WASHINGTON — The son and daughter of Medric “Cecil” Mills honored their dad during a candlelight vigil Saturday, two years after he died of a heart attack across the street from a D.C. fire station.
Mills died of a heart attack at age 77, just a stone’s throw from Engine Company 26 on Rhode Island Avenue near 13th Street Northeast.
During the vigil his children called out fire department personnel who failed to come to their father’s aid.
“I just want to know why you didn’t come to help my father, if somebody could explain that to me face to face,” says his son, Medric Mills III.
Medric and Marie mourn their dad Cecil. They say they don’t know why DC FEMS failed to help him 2 y ago #Wtop pic.twitter.com/iu9tbRxK4x
— Dick Uliano (@DickUliano) January 31, 2016
Marie Mills was with her dad that day, but her pleas for help went unanswered. The family claims that no one with the D.C. Fire Department has been held accountable for their father’s death. A fire lieutenant in charge of the firehouse retired with a pension before facing discipline.
“They don’t want to hear the side of the citizens,” Marie Mills says. “There were over 12 people out here [the day her father died] and not one in two years has been interviewed by Fire EMS.”
The small group of family and friends bundled up under heavy coats and hats, and held candles in the chilly evening air. Nearby were placards bearing an image of Medric “Cecil” Mills and the words “Justice for Cecil Mills.”
The family says it also wants reform at D.C. Fire EMS because, they claim, even under a new fire chief the agency is still unreliable.
“You can’t even count on basic service which is emergency medical care,”says Medric Mills.
“We want to see that this doesn’t happen to any other family,” he says.
