Lower courts ruled Minneapolis first responders not liable.

Byline: Kevin Featherly

Hoping to overturn the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and achieve unity in the federal courts on emergency workers' qualified-immunity defenses, the father of a Minnesota student who froze to death six years ago is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review his case.

William Anderson, father of the late 19-year-old University of Minnesota student Jacob William Anderson, filed a writ of certiorari petition with the high court on Nov. 19.

In a case that U.S. District Court Judge Susan Richard Nelson called "tragic," Jacob Anderson was found face down in the snow near the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. He died, his father claims, because first responders neglected to provide potentially life-saving care, violating his son's 14th Amendment rights.

According to court records:

Fire department first responders arrived first on the scene and declared the student dead at 8:57 a.m., on Dec, 14, 2013, after a 30-second pulse check of his frostbitten wrist. Anderson was not breathing and no heartbeat was detected.

Fire department personnel called off an ambulance, but paramedics nonetheless soon arrived. They never separately evaluated Anderson's condition, however, and left after two minutes.

Next, police arrived. They treated the incident as a possible crime because of scratches seen on the victim's arms and legs and did not transport Anderson. At 10:30 a.m., more than 90 minutes after the first emergency workers arrived, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's office was summoned.

The temperature that day was about zero degrees Fahrenheit, according to Anderson's cert petition.

Eventually an autopsy was performed. The student's time of death from hypothermia was given as 8:47 a.m., about 10 minutes before he was declared dead, according to court records.

William Anderson alleges that his son was alive, but nonresponsive, possibly for hours while emergency crews milled around. He sued in federal court, charging that his son was deprived of his 14th Amendment rights to life and due process.

"Had the first responders followed the standard operating procedures and guidelines they were trained to follow namely, to rewarm a hypothermic victim before ever making an arbitrary and medically erroneous declaration of death Jacob likely would be alive today," the petition says.

William Anderson's family lost in U.S. District Court on March 30, 2018. Nelson did agree with Anderson that emergency crews' actions in declaring his son dead...