PHOENIX — Ryan Shuck is still processing the circumstances surrounding the recent death of his 76-year-old father.
"It's still not easy to lose him when you think he's going to be here," Shuck said with tears in his eyes.
Ryan Shuck's father, Ronald Shuck, was not in the best of health but still had time left, Ryan Shuck said. Other members of the family had lived to 100 after all, so who knows how many years Ronald Shuck could have had?
"He was just one of those guys that have the best sense of humor," Ryan Shuck said. "He's super funny, his laugh was extremely contagious."
Ronald Shuck lived most of his life in the Pacific Northwest, working in real estate. Two of his three children went into real estate as well, moving to Arizona. A few years ago, Ronald Shuck and his wife moved to Arizona to be closer to them, setting up in the Pioneer RV Resort south of Anthem.
On Jan. 5, Ronald Shuck was having trouble standing. It happened sometimes, Ryan Shuck said, because his father was diabetic. Ronald Shuck's legs were weak and his wife wasn't strong enough to help him up. So they called the Phoenix Fire Department to help.
Ryan Shuck said firefighters got to the little house and helped Ronald Shuck onto his office chair. It was a cheap plastic rolling chair, the kind without any arms. Firefighters checked his vitals and wanted to take him to the hospital, Ryan Shuck said.
But to get him there, firefighters had to get him out down three stairs from his front porch.
"What they came up with was on that roller chair," Ryan Shuck said. Firefighters lifted Ronald Shuck down the stairs, not strapped in, not on a gurney or stair chair-- but still in the rolling office chair.
"He's not a small person so I don't understand why they would choose to do that," Ryan Shuck said.
With his wife watching, Ryan Shuck said firefighters dropped Ronald Shuck to the ground.
According to a fire department report Ryan Shuck got from his father's hospital records, the firefighters wrote that Ronald Shuck "fell to the ground from the chair" while firefighters were lifting him. Afterward, firefighters wrote, Ronald Shuck complained of neck pain but he passed a spinal movement test and could move his arms and legs.
They took him to the hospital where Ryan Shuck said Ronald Shuck grew progressively more paralyzed.
"And then he could no longer move or talk, or eat or drink," Ryan Shuck said. "Watching him take his last breath was probably the hardest moment of my life," he said.
Ronald Shuck died on Jan. 23, 2024, more than two weeks after being taken out of his house for muscle weakness.
“Still feels like a nightmare," Ryan Shuck said. "I haven't cried since he passed because I just didn't want to think that it's real...but it obviously is."
Phoenix Fire would only say the incident is under investigation and is being reviewed by the department. Beyond that, a spokesperson said they couldn't comment further.
Ryan Shuck said the family is still grieving but their next step may be talking to a lawyer.
"Someone should suffer the consequences for what they did," he said.