Photo by Eric P.

Six months after a D.C. man died while waiting for an ambulance following a heart attack, the man’s family is suing the District’s Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services for $12 million.

Durand Ford Sr. went into cardiac arrest about 1 a.m. on New Year’s Eve. When his family called 911 for help, it took more than 40 minutes for an ambulance to respond to his Southeast D.C. home. And to boot, it was an ambulance dispatched from Oxon Hill, Md.—seven miles away—because D.C. authorities had to call their counterparts in Prince George’s County for backup that night. About 100 Fire and EMS employees called in sick on New Year’s. International Association of Fire Fighters Local 36, the union that represents most of the department’s rank-and-file, has denied that there was a coordinated effort to leave the department short-handed tonight.

Durand Ford Jr. filed the negligence suit in D.C. Court on Tuesday, naming the D.C. Fire and EMS Department, the District government, and Ellerbe as defendants.