Fursuiter Lemonade Coyote dies in crash while on EMT duty
Fursuiter Lemonade Coyote/Cyrus (Timothy McCormick) is reported dead after another vehicle broadsided his ambulance early this morning. He was 24. [tip: Scott J. Fox]
While not on duty, Lemonade enjoyed fursuiting. His suit's bright and vibrant pink and yellow was true to the name. He was passionate for sticking up for what was right; once saying his dream job was to be a homicide detective.
This isn't the first time that a motor vehicle accident has prematurely taken away a furry fan. Automobile accidents have become a leading cause of death in the fandom.
According to his Facebook profile, Tim attended Regis High School and St. Lawrence University in New York, then switched to Indiana University, joining the Indianapolis EMS in June 2010. He graduated last fall with a major in Political Science, after four semesters on the Dean's List.
In a quote on the organization's website, Indianapolis EMS chief Dr. Charles Miramonti said:
The entire Indianapolis EMS family is deeply saddened by the news of our fallen brother. Tim was a heroic provider, but he was also a wonderful colleague and friend to us all.
Update: Cody Medley, the other EMT who was in the ambulance with Tim and was critically injured in the crash, has also died from his injuries.
Update 2 (1 March): No criminal charges will be laid; the driver ran a red light but was not legally impaired, and both vehicles were speeding.
About the author
Sonious (Tantroo McNally) — read stories — contact (login required)a project coordinator and Kangaroo from CheektRoowaga, NY, interested in video games, current events, politics, writing and finance
Comments
I don't know the guy, but I'm sorry this happened and I'm sorry for his family.
To Tim/Lemonade's family and friends: I am so sorry for your loss.
This is the second death in the furry fandom (that I know of) in the last three days. On February 14 it was reported that furry crafter Foxen Griffox/Foxentine had passed away.
theres ben more there was beastcub to and all of her dogs and her sisters bf people need to stop the drunk driveing crap they are totel idiot if they think they wont kill someone i hope who ever did this goes to jail
Was Beastcub the one who died within the last two days? I was having dinner with some friends last night and we talked briefly about the above two furs dying so close to one another and another friend mentioned a third fur who had died that weekend as well :/
Edit: My bad, it was Hari, not Beastcub, who was killed last July. My apologies. I am not aware of anything happening to Beastcub.
(Original (incorrect) post follows)
No. Beastcub died last July from injuries sustained when he and his girlfriend were out walking their four dogs. The driver left the scene of the accident and was apprehended three days later. While it is likely he was under the influence of alcohol or drugs or both, because he wasn't tested at the time it would be difficult to make the charges stick (he is being tried on other charges in connection with the accident which could send him to jail for years).
There has been another death in the fandom in the last two days, MammaLlamaDevil, but her death was from cancer.
You're thinking of Hari.
Hari was Beastcub's Sister's Boyfriend. (I can't remember her name, but something like "wolfgem" is coming to mind.)
Beastcub's alive and okay.
rest in peace pink lemonade coyote .
the only pink and the only coyote there is .
rest in peace pink lemonade coyote .
the only pink and the only coyote there is .
my catch furrtastic sad :(
*sigh* he was a forthright person, i had the honor of meeting him for the first time several years ago. and talked to him several times since, He was a bright (hehe pun not intended) a real sharp tack you could say, and kind person one of the very very very few in the world today that had so much real exceptional potential. its not only a catastrophic loss to miss his shining personality, but also to miss what he was able to bring to the world as a very smart person. he was motivated, and well simply put a very honorable & awefuly kindhearted person all around.
In all to be honest i'm still having a hard time believing hes passed.
Remember the good times Shade, keep the memories alive. Gonna miss him myself, he was definitely unique and awesome in his own way.
In fairness I will note GreenReaper added everything after the third paragraph. I don't have access to facebook myself having no account there.
Poor dude. And young too. I hate when we loose one of our family memebers.
just reading this has brought me to tears, just thinking of how his life was taken from him in his youth(note it wouldnt be any sadder if he was older or so but you get what i mean) he had so much to live for too.....you will be missed lemonade coyote may your afterlife be spent in pure happiness and tranquility.
My thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family. Tough loss for the fandom. Never had the chance to meet or talk to him, but I have all the respect in the world for EMTs. As for the lady that killed him, she should be charged with murder.
I didnt know the him personally but i know the person he was talking to and cared for. He is heart broken and all my heart goes out to all that are effected by this tragedy.
I say grab the lady.. take her to a brewery, toss her in a fermenting vat and hold the bitch down until the fucking bubbles stop.
This kind of thing needs to have SEVERE.. IMMEDIATE judiciary repercussions, IE: Death penalty.
..But i'm a psychopath *shrugs* grain of salt and all that.
He sounded like a great guy, and while i agree it's horrible losing a member of the fandom.. it's a tragedy to lose a genuinely good human being. May he rest in piece and may the inebriated cunt who killed him rest in PIECES..
That's a lot especially since the results of the blood test haven't come back yet and we don't know what the cause is, only that she ran a red light.
What if she had a heart attack and ran the light? What if she wasn't drunk? What if her car's brakes failed or accelerator stuck?
We don't know what happened.
Then A. She shouldn't have been operating a motor vehicle with health-problems. B. Wasn't paying attention behind the wheel and is at fault. C. Didn't take care of her vehicle, still her fault. D. I am SO fucking tired of people on this accelerator sticking issue, the whole thing was due to stupid backwards soccer moms putting one too many of those fucking all-weather floormats down and it ended up covering the accel-pedal. AGAIN, would be her fault.
Stop trying to take responsibility away from people, any way you slice it, the bitch was at fault and killed someone. Her punishment should fit her crime of murder via reckless negligence.
FWIW, I had one of those cars.
The rep told me outright that there was an issue with the accelerator sticking. It wasn't widespread, and it certainlydidn't occur everywhere.
I'm not trying to take any responsibility from anyone. I'm simply asking that we wait until the blood tests come back before we crucify someone.
It's funny, how many furs on my twitter feed are absolutely screaming for blood from this woman without her even being charged yet .. who were the same furs not a week ago yelling about that cop in LA deserving due process.
I'm frustrated as you are. I'm tired of losing people to drunk drivers. But I would really like to make sure she WAS drunk before I lump her in.
It really pisses me off that the police let her go home. They didn't even arrest her. She's STILL not under arrest or charged.
It wasn't her fault you stupid asshole. It was as much the ambulances fault as hers. Get your facts together before blasting people. It's a crapy situation but accidents happen
Moderator warning: Keep it civil and avoid namecalling.
The reports stated that the ambulance had a flashing yellow and the other vehicle had a flashing red, meaning the ambulance had the right of way and the other vehicle was required to stop, which it did not, and is therefore at fault.
Eh.
Maybe.
The problem isn't just that. The problem is also that the ambulance was speeding and would have been unable to stop. If both parties were going the speed limit, this wouldn't have happened. If either party was going the speed limit, it wouldn't have happened, and if she had stopped at the light, her speed would have been zero. Finding fault depends on Indiana's laws, whether or not emergency services vehicles have an EXTRA duty on safety while driving (in many states, they do.. so this might be categorized as automatically their fault just for speeding while not being on an emergency run), etc.
I suspect this might go to a civil trial, though.
The ambulance was said to have gone through a yellow light and it wasnt stated that it was speeding. But the car went through the red light and hit it. The ambulance speeding is a assumption by you
Umm.. no. The ambulance speeding assumption is by the report on IndyStar.com that came out of the prosecutor's office stating that the ambulance was going 20 miles over the speed limit.
http://www.indystar.com/article/20130228/NEWS/302280044/No-charges-against-drive...
Also, it was a flashing yellow, which means "use caution." The other street had a flashing red, which is to be treated like a stop sign.
the ambulance was probably going to save someones life
"What if she wasn't drunk?"
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/local-news/2nd-emt-cody-medley-dies-after-cra...
From article- "Police said Jade Hammer, 21, told officers that she had consumed one and a half drinks before the crash. The traffic light at the intersection was flashing yellow for the ambulance and red for the car Hammer was driving, police said."
Also given her age, drinking is a much higher possibility than a medical condition, particularly of the cardiovascular variety.
One of the news reports I saw stated that Ms. Hammer was distracted by her GPS at the time of the accident. I could easily believe that this was a greater factor than alcohol; where many other causes of of motor vehicle accidents, deaths and injuries have been steadily decreasing, distracted driving is one where it has been on the increase.
If memory serves, one of the details that came out in Furp's case was that while the driver of the other vehicle had had some alcohol he was below the legal limit. Even without any alcohol, people sometimes make stupid mistakes behind the wheel that cost the lives of others. To claim that alcohol was the sole or the primary cause of any fatal accident just because the driver had had any at all is jumping to conclusions without getting all the facts.
Just to be clear, like most other posters here, I am greatly saddened by the deaths of Lemonade Coyote and his EMT partner at such young ages. In fact my goddaughter's husband works as an EMT in Indianapolis and knew both of them. It's a tragic occurrence, regardless whether it was alcohol, distracted driving, fatigue, or some combination thereof that caused Ms. Hammer to run a flashing red light.
Probably so. But another article I read, that has vanished behind a paywall, said she had 1.5 drinks five or six hours before the crash, and was distracted and fiddling with her GPS/Phone at the time of the crash.
Supposedly she also called it in, and waited at the scene, and cooperated fully.
I don't know. Just think we should have patience and evidence before we get the rope.
I think one could use the Hillary Clinton defense for this "Who cared why it happened, what does it matter now?"
Punishment is not mine to give, but neither is forgiveness for recklessness. No matter what the reasoning was.
i knew him off and on past few years he was a really great guy he will trully be missed
R.I.P bro!
I'm not good at expressing my feelings, all I can think to say is that this really sucks. I HATE drunk drivers, they should all just get locked up. Such a kind young soul, taken in its prime. The world has just become a little bit worse. Rest in peace Tim. May you and your alter-ego experience the utmost joy in the afterlife. (just don't go around haunting people and scaring them too much, okay? Haha
Heheh)
We have these commercials that come on every once in awhile for a DUI defense lawyer. At first he had some good point commercials on how there could be things that give false positives, will make one wrongfully accused.
Then he had one commercial that went over a line for me. He said something along the lines. "They[Drunk Drivers] are often painted as monsters. But they are sons and daughters, parents and grandparents."
To that I instantly went "OBJECTION!" If they are those things, they have even less of an excuse. What kind of responsible family member would do such a thing? Particularly a parent. They should know they are putting the lives of themselves and OTHER people's sons and daughter in their hands.... or maybe their own children, if they use the same roads.
Pretty much this. And his commercial is on literally every commercial break on most of our local radio stations.
It's one thing if it's a false positive, but far too many of his commercials sound like he is there to protect those who were rightfully convicted as well.
The fact that he can even afford the amount of advertising he pours into it makes me cringe. Business must be good.
i didn't know him personally but the fury community is like one big family no matter where we are or where we are from we will miss him i am but a humble cat saying good bye to someone who will be missed but we will honer the memories of a fallen brother and stand tall in the face of tragedy weep not friends we will all miss him dearly
i never knew him but i really wanted to. now i never will. :( goodbye lemonade coyote i miss you so much
I didnt kno him but cause he was a fur he was family to me and im a guy but i cried on and off all last night cause of it any1 want to add me on facebook im john trevilian and live in virginia
R.I.P Lemonade.
You will be deeply missed.
You were so sweet and so full of life.
My heart goes out to his friends, family and colleagues who are pained by this sudden tragedy.
Although I am not his personal friend, I feel for the family, and his friends. Robb and I send our deepest sympathy to his family and friends. I am sure he will be sorely missed by all. He had a long life ahead of him only to be taken away far too soon and all because some idiot wanted to drive drunk. I hope they prosecute the person who caused this young mans death. Again our sympathy to all involved.
I heard that the drunk lady will be getting no murder or manslaughter charges. Just drunk charges smfh
If she was drunk.
They still haven't gotten the results back.
The latest update is that Cody Medley, the second EMS worker in the ambulance, has also died of his injuries. (He had been taken to Wishard Hospital after the collision and had not been expected to survive.)
Cy/ Tim was a good kid, a good friend and a caring person, sometimes he'd wear himself to the bone but he'd always try and find a smile, far too young but perhaps it is to the rest of us as a lesson. Live your life well and try to find a little time to smile, have fun and just be yourselves. Take care my friend, you've answered your last call, all units in quarters. RIP to his partner Cody as well.
dude where not talking about the lady who got manslaughter, where talking about the best pink coyote there is. sorry to be rude but its true. just saying.
So... this is going to sound insensitive, but i mean it with all seriousness. Furries need to stay away from automobiles.. IT never seems to turn out good. I was going to finally learn how to drive, Then i heard Athus got hit by a car.. And i changed my mind in that instant.
My condolences to Lemonade and his family..
How do you get places if you don't use vehicles?
Easily. I live in an area that is very pedestrian and public transport friendly. not to mention, I love riding my bike.
Actually, you are FAR more at the mercy of fate when you, yourself, are not at the wheel and in control of the vehicle. When Athus was killed, he wasn't the driver, he was the passenger. Did you not know that?
I knew that.
Ummm... he was an EMT, how would he do his job? Besides that, there was a fur last year (Elden) who died while walking his dogs. Seems more to follow that stupid & drunken drivers need to be removed from the road, and I hope that even if this lady wasn't drunk she needs to lose her license forever and spend some time in jail and probably some community service where she deals with the results of drunk drivers.
I never knew you Lemonade. But Im proud of you and all that you were. I hope things are better for you in heaven. I know I will always remember you in my heart. I have been crying since I heard about your accident on furaffinity. Im also working hard to make sure Im driving carefully. I lost a classmate to a car accident last year. I know we never met but Im hurting and crying from losing you. May you rest in peace. Hope to meet you in that never ending fur con in the sky someday. Goodbye Lekonade Coyote. *cries*
*Lemonade Coyote. Stupid tiny phone keyboard.
You can always edit posts that have not been replied to yet, but once someone's replied to them you cannot. :)
Oh wow. I talked to him a few times and he seemed like a pretty nice guy. That's so unfortunate.
This will probably come across as REALLY insensitive, but what will happen to Lemonade Coyote's Fursuit? As I have said from time to time, the University of California at Riverside Library has the largest collection of Furry fandom materials including books, fanzines, letters, Furcon badges and conbooks, T-shirts, letters, etc.; but the one major thing that it lacks is Fursuits. Library curator Dr. Melissa Conway would love to get some Fursuits donated. Because Fursuits are very personal, are usually worn until they fall apart, and their materials are recycled into new Fursuits, there are not "retired" Fursuits that could be donated to an archival collection of Furry materials.
Lemonade Coyote's Fursuit could be an outstanding memorial to him. Contact Dr. Melissa Conway, Ph.D., Head, Special Collections & Archives, UCR Libraries, P.O. Box 5900, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92517-5900; Telephone: 951-827-3233, Fax: 951-827-4673.
Fred Patten
I don't know how you'd be able to approach that subject, and I certainly wouldn't do so anytime soon (certainly not before the funeral or any reasonable grieving period has passed), but I would think the parents would ultimately decide what to do with his possessions. Possibly drop a tasteful note on his facebook perhaps?
I had heard that Pandaguy's mother had saved his fursuit for a memorial she would be putting together for her son. I'm assuming that it all depends on how well the parents know about furry, fursuiting, and how it fit into their child's life. Suggesting a memorial using their fursuit could be considered a nice gesture or it could be something they really really don't want to have their son known by - I mean furry's reputation tends to be sensationalized, and certainly Tim's EMT work and other good deeds should be what he is primarily remembered for. It's... a difficult and awkward question to ask :/
I never had the pleasure of knowing this person, I vaguely remember seeing this suit at one point but... it doesn't matter. Another kind & dedicated person is lost from the world, and the fandom has lost another member who had done a lot of good. :(
I am very sorry i never got to meet this beautiful fur. i am sorry for his mate loss.
I break inside everytime I read a beloved Fur of us has taken away. v.v
Rest in peace although I did not know you.
- Like W.
I never knew this person,but he seemed like a nice person. Too bad he died. I was crying when i first read he died.
I hope to see you in our next lives friend, Till then we will be missing you.
Gone but never forgotten you were one of a kind and a rare one at that, gone to soon, way to soon.
RIP Lemonade we will miss you. I can't stop crying I can't believe this happened.
I heard that his parents dont want any of his furry friends to attend his funneral n from the sound of it they hated that side of it (fur) so i hope and pray they dont throw his suit away
While I can't confirm that, what I can say this kind of thing shows that one should have some kind of will that decides how one's funeral should be handled.
"Furry friends + Suits"
"Furry friends but no suits"
"Only these particular furs"
"No Furs"
Etc.
Friends of Lemonade who are furry should of course respect the wishes of the parents and not wear anything furry to the funeral and treat it with complete decorum. However, banning them completely from the funeral would be petty, I mean if they knew the guy then they deserve to be able to attend and pay their respects.
Unfortunately fursuits have a lifetime and will not last forever no matter how well kept. If they do discard his fursuit, which would be unfortunate, I hope people who have seen it over the years save their pictures and share them with their memories of Tim. Personally I think the parents should either donate it to a charity auction or give it to his closest friend... but they may of course prefer to remember their son without his furry involvement.
This is a good example of why a will is something everyone, whatever your age, should have. Especially if you have family who aren't really on the same page with you on your lifestyle or who you don't feel really know you well enough to decide what happens after you die... just put something together letting them know what your wishes were. If it's not done through a lawyer it really depends on how much respect for those wishes your family will have but at least you'd be pointing them in the direction of what you would want.
I was told by a close friend of his that always argues with him about which of them is going to win the dance competitions i was told of facebook that because he was a fur friend of tim's that he wasnt invited to the funeral
I really dont want to talk about this.. makes me sick to talk to someone even if its over the internet and than they die, its almost like If you knew you would have said dont go...
oh a happier not my capchia or however you spell it is fire-drake.
R.I.P. Lemonade Coyote you'll be missed by all. As I herd from some of my furry friends who knew him he was the life of the party. I don't personally know him but I am saddened by the posts on Facebook and FurAffinity and with every new post I cry. Us furs if we know each other or not we are still part of an world wide family and fandom. =^.^=
His "It gets better" video
can we please all shut up about this, Pain is bad enough and we all need to stop talking about it, it sucks and there is nothing we can do about it. Its hurting me each time someone comments on it, ok? Dx Im sorry im insenstive im just tired of being reminded of someone dead everyday since it happened.
I did this for Lemonade Coyote. I never got the chance to get to know him.:'-(
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10157430/?nocache=1363612938
Curt Pehrson, producer of Furries - An Inside Look, has created a retrospective featuring interviews with Tim's friends.
I still can't believe this news.. sometimes I wake up wondering where is the lemonade coyote!! He was suuuch a nice guy and brought sooo much joy to all of our lives. sight.. -Jason.
RIP but, the dude was speeding, had the guy been going the speed limit they would have had a better chance to survive. you dont speed in a high, tall, heavy vehicle, its just not safe.
so both parties are at fault, people need to realize that. I got to drive a ups truck once, the big box trucks, ambulances are smaller. but still. you dont speed in a giant top heavy vehicle no matter what.
they were on a non emergency call why were they speeding!
both of them were young and obviously being reckless thinking they were invincible because giant ambulance vehicle and not to necro this threat but you know what
fucking karma.
I speed, and when I DO speed, I make sure Im 200% alert at all times, foot ready to let off my gas, brake at the ready.
RIP sorry for your loss like a billion years later but you know.
that and lemonade was a jerk to certain members of the population. you can only talk so much shit to people before karma smacks you in the face.
had they slowed down, had they gone the speed limit the injuries would have still been severe but.
they were doing what 50?
and they car was doing twenty?
thats 70 MILES PER HOUR OF FORCE FROM BOTH PARTIES. even in a seatbelt your going to have severe injuries.
IE the driver, its why he died LATER.
force mass, accleration, pressure imposed. human bodies are not invincible.
had they been going 30, and the driver twenty, they would have been hit with a total combined of 50 miles per hour.
still deadly but much more survivable.
Judgmental much? Since you're so fond of karma, I hope one day you learn that nobody's perfect and that everything that happens to someone isn't necessarily preventable or their fault.
Lots of caps doesn't make you a win, the squad was traveling at 45-50 crossing a yellow light intersection, Ms Hammer was traveling at 35-40 and had a flashing red light, and a BAC of .038 and did not stop, broadsiding the ambulance. Indeed there was a huge number of factors at play here, and the result was the death of two good people. Also your math vectors are completely wrong, there is no combined speed in a broadside. Its a tragic accident all around.
it sucks to have found out about this because of a troll on a chat I mod for, but perhaps belatedly, I offer my condolences. Fellow EMT, stand ready all the time to help my fellow man. He stood ready.
I'm not trying to hurt any body emotionally or physically but wouldn't talking about make everybody feel worse. I mean I a furry to and I care deeply for a family/friend of furries.But we need to let it go.???????? as long as we now we're he went, we all know he's still with us????????????????????. Goodbye....
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