Remembering Honor: Confusion, accusations after death of 12-year-old on Rosebud Reservation

Editor’s note: This is the second article of a two-part package on the 2022 death of a boy on the Rosebud Indian Reservation.

MISSION, S.D. – The winter storms that ravaged South Dakota in December 2022 didn’t come without warning. But few could have predicted the impact on reservations such as Rosebud and Pine Ridge, with limited capacity for emergency response.

What started as freezing drizzle on Monday, Dec. 12, turned into heavy snowfall and driving winds the following day. Plows struggled to clear roads around Mission and St. Francis, with the National Weather Service warning of “difficult to near-impossible travel conditions.”

The weather compounded a hectic week in the Whipple household. Brooki had given birth to Link on Dec. 5, with complications requiring a trip to Sioux Falls for neonatal care.

Honor and Ari stayed with Gary’s mother, who lived nearby and could take them to school. When Gary returned on Tuesday, Dec. 13, for Ari’s last basketball game and a dinner event at Sapa Un, he sensed something was wrong with Honor.

“I could see it in him,” Gary said. “He was not as peppy as he usually was.”

Weather conditions worsened the following day, as did Honor’s health. He had a bad cough, body aches and fever, and he was finding it hard to breathe.

The Rosebud IHS posted Wednesday, Dec. 14, that it was assessing the status of hospital services for Thursday due to the storm, though the inpatient and emergency departments would remain open. “Please do not travel unless absolutely necessary,” the message said.

Gary risked tough driving conditions around midday Wednesday to get Honor to the IHS emergency room, about 5 miles from the ranch.

Honor was evaluated by Dr. Sarah Leeper, who noted he had a history of asthma treated by medication for wheezing and shortness of breath. She also noted his flu symptoms and was told he had likely been exposed to influenza at home or school. He tested negative for COVID-19.

Honor’s vital signs were stable, but he had an elevated heart rate of 122 beats a minute. His oxygen saturation was 95%, considered normal, though Gary insists the percentage was lower before they patted Honor on his back to loosen up phlegm.

Honor rated his chest pain as 6 out of 10, which Leeper noted was likely due to muscle strain from repeated coughing or possible lung irritation from the flu. A chest X-ray demonstrated bronchitis and patches of infection in his lungs.

Leeper prescribed Tamiflu for five days and told the family that Honor should continue using his inhaler, adding that they should “return to the ER for new or worsening symptoms.” She wrote in the chart: “Careful return to ED (emergency department) instructions given.”

Registered nurse Eric Miller documented the discharge at 2:15 p.m. and noted: “Provider informed of discharge vitals – OK to proceed with discharge, aware of lower O2 (saturation).”

The following day, Thursday, Dec. 15, Honor did little more than lay in the recliner with his blanket, racked by coughs. Brooki Whipple talked to her mother on the phone, worried about what the ensuing hours would bring.

Cordier-Beauvais, attending a conference in Rapid City, tried to contact tribal officials to get the road cleared near Whipple Ranch on BIA Highway 1. There was no other way to get her grandson to the ER if needed. Brooki made calls to Winner, 40 miles away, for emergency services, with no luck.

Oliver, whose tribal duties included emergency preparedness and response, was attending the Lakota Nation Invitational basketball tournament in Rapid City along with Scott Herman, the tribal president.

Cordier-Beauvais said her calls to Oliver and Herman went unanswered. At 8:17 p.m., she texted Oliver that Honor’s condition was getting worse and that “he’s not doing well at all. Is there anyone who can go to Whipple Ranch and help my daughter?”

More than 40 minutes later, at 8:58 p.m., Oliver responded via text: “They’re on their way out. Be there in about 25 minutes or so.” He was referring to a snow plow redirected from Rosebud Sioux Tribal Airport, about 6 miles away and traveling 20 miles an hour.

Rose responded three minutes later: “Hurry. My grandson’s not breathing!”

The scene at the Whipple Ranch deteriorated into panic.

Attempts to get Honor to the bathroom were interrupted by what appeared to be a seizure as he collapsed on a rug in the living room, not far from the family’s Christmas tree.

“We were feeling his legs while he was in the recliner to make sure he was OK, and we felt him getting cold,” said Brooki. “On the way to the bathroom, he collapsed on the floor, and I watched as he stopped breathing.”

At 8:57 p.m., Gary and Brooki Whipple called Rosebud Sioux Tribe 911 and spoke with dispatcher Samantha Spotted Tail, who advised them to start CPR.

By then Cordier-Beauvais and Frani Beauvais had gotten word to Shorty Jordan, a tribal employee who was acting independently that night, to plow BIA Highway 1 near the ranch in Two Strike. But snow was still drifting.

At 9:20 p.m. Spotted Tail contacted the Rosebud Ambulance Service and was informed that “medics are stuck on the road.”

Oliver said one of the tribe’s vehicles had to tow the ambulance to reach the ranch, which is offset from the highway. Time was not on their side.

Gary Whipple was performing CPR when paramedics arrived around 9:50 p.m. Honor was still not breathing. Dark brown fluid from his nose and mouth left a stain on the rug.

The EMTs continued resuscitation efforts as they loaded him into the ambulance and headed to the hospital 3 miles away. Gary rode along with the boy he considered his son.

“I just felt sick,” he said. “I felt nauseous. I felt pain. And when we got to the hospital, I kind of collapsed. My legs felt like they couldn’t hold me up. I remember sitting in a chair and just praying and praying. Then a doctor came out and pulled me aside and said, ‘He’s gone.’”

Resuscitation efforts at the hospital lasted 12 minutes. Honor was declared dead at 10:26 p.m. An autopsy later revealed the cause of death as acute bronchial pneumonia due to Influenza A.

Oliver doesn’t deny that better machinery could have made a difference. But he said it’s unfair to blame tribal officials for a large-scale extended blizzard that replaced snowdrifts as quickly as crews removed them.

“This was a storm that dumped a lot of snow really fast,” said Oliver, who is now in charge of dam safety for the tribe. “It was wet snow, heavy snow. And the wind swept everything back in after roads were cleared earlier that day.”

Herman and other tribal officials expressed frustration at the response from Noem and the Department of Public Safety as the storm raged, claiming the governor should have called in the National Guard earlier or sent heavy-duty equipment. Ian Fury, Noem’s chief of communications, dismissed those claims at the time as part of a “false narrative.”

One thing that Rose and tribal officials agree on is that Honor should not have been released from the hospital Dec. 14, given the severity of weather conditions. Oliver said the tribe reached out to IHS in the days following Honor’s death and asked them to keep patients longer if possible.

“They should have just kept him because of the conditions,” said Oliver. 

(This article was produced by South Dakota News Watch, a non-profit journalism organization located online at sdnewswatch.org. Contact SDNW at info@sdnewswatch.org)

The post Remembering Honor: Confusion, accusations after death of 12-year-old on Rosebud Reservation first appeared on Native Sun News Today.

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