Thursday, February 2, 2012  By Kevin King

Tulsa -Police arrested a man they say attacked paramedics that were trying to help him. 

The paramedics were called to 10th and Utica Tuesday evening to check on a man down behind a store. When they arrived, they found 29-year-old Johnny Ray Wheeler, who they say awakened and refused medical attention. 

After speaking with Wheeler, the paramedics turned to leave, but police say he followed them and became hostile and began assaulting them. 



Wheeler was booked into the Tulsa County Jail on complaints of public intoxication and assault and battery on medical personnel. He remains in the jail on 5-thousand dollars bond. 

Thursday, February 2, 2012  A SCARBOROUGH man who burgled a neighbour’s flat and hit a paramedic who was trying to help him has been jailed for eight months.



Thomas Dudley, 30, of Trafalgar Square, also admitted selling on a stolen Xbox games console following the burglary on November 15.

He also pleaded guilty to using threatening words and behaviour towards a passer-by in Trafalgar Square on November 24.

During a sentencing hearing at Scarborough Magistrates’ Court, the court heard how Dudley had committed all the offences whilst in drink.

Katy Varlow, prosecuting, said that Dudley had assaulted the paramedic after being found drunk and unresponsive in the street on January 8.

She explained that as the ambulance set off, Dudley, who was on a stretcher, started to sit up.

As paramedics tried to strap him down for his own safety, he reached up and hit one of them on the chin with his right hand.

Mrs Varlow said: “The assault is aggravated by the fact that the victim was a public servant.”

The court also heard that Dudley had been drunk in Trafalgar Square on November 24 and had been abusive to a passer-by, threatening to kick his dog.

Ian Brickman, mitigating, said: “All matters are in one way or another drink related.

“This is not a mitigating factor, but goes some way towards explaining my client’s difficulties.”

He added that Dudley could not remember all the details about what happened on these occasions, but did accept the Crown’s version of events.

Mr Brickman said his client had tried to tackle his drink problems, having been to rehab twice, but this had not been successful.

Dudley was given an eight-month prison sentence.

On delivering sentence, magistrates took into account the 21 days he had already spent in custody. 

Thursday, February 2, 2012  TULSA - EMSA spokesman Chris Stevens says a man pulled a knife on two paramedics around 10:30 last night outside an 11th and Utica QuikTrip.

Posted in the area, the paramedics asked to respond to a man-down behind the local store.

The man, Johnny Wheeler, was unconscious but awoke upon the paramedic's arrival.

After refusing medical attention, Wheeler, followed the paramedics back to their vehicle and brandished a knife.

The paramedics were able to subdue Wheeler and hold him until police arrived.

Wheeler was arrested for assault and battery on medical personnel and public intoxication. Wheeler had slurred speech and smelled of alcohol, according to the jail's booking report.

The paramedics say they don't know why the man approached them. No one was hurt in the incident.

Thursday, February 2, 2012  By Frank Warner

A pickup truck ran into the rear of a car on Route 22 in Whitehall Township, knocking the car into an ambulance Saturday afternoon, police said Tuesday.

Only the car driver was hurt, suffering minor injuries.



Steven D. Martucci, 25, of Zionsville was eastbound on Route 22 at 2 p.m. when the pickup driven by Richard F. Rolen, 20, of Bethlehem hit Martucci's car between the 15th Street and Route 145 exits, state police at Bethlehem said.

Martucci's car hit the median, but bounced right, into the ambulance driven by Colleen M. Duke, 29, of Coopersburg, police said. Then the car hit the median wall.

Neither Duke nor her ambulance passengers Ann M. Kusco, 31, ofTopton and Jason B. Fussleman, 30, of New Tripoli were injured, police said. Police did not say whose ambulance it was.

The pickup truck had severe front-end damage, and the car had a crumpled rear end, police said.



Martucci was taken by Cetronia Ambulance to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest, where he was treated and released. 

Thursday, February 2, 2012  By Caleb Hutton
An SUV crashed into an ambulance Wednesday afternoon, Feb. 1, near Ferndale, sending both medics and the SUV driver to the hospital.
The North Whatcom Fire and Rescue ambulance was returning from a call about 3:25 p.m. when a Ford Edge ran through a stop sign at the intersection of Kickerville and Bay roads, clipping the ambulance, said North Whatcom Division Chief Henry Hollander. 
The collision whipped the ambulance 180 degrees and sent it careening into a ditch on Bay Road. The crash crumpled the driver’s side of the SUV and smashed its windshield. 
    
  “To me it sounded like a cannon going off,” said Larry Seigman, who lives in a house a few hundred feet south of the intersection.
The Ford driver, 56-year-old Timothy Howe of Blaine, was bleeding from the head, witnesses reported. Firefighters had to cut him from the SUV to free him. He was taken to St. Joseph hospital, but it wasn’t immediately clear how serious his injuries were.
The ambulance driver, 37-year-old Anthony Esser of Bellingham, and the other medic on board, 30-year-old Joel Sellinger of Blaine, also were injured and taken to the hospital. Their injuries were not life-threatening, Hollander said.
The SUV was travelling southbound on Kickerville, where the speed limit is 35 mph. It went through the stop sign at Bay, where the speed limit is 50 mph, and struck the ambulance that was westbound on Bay, according to the Washington State Patrol.
Howe will be cited for failure to stop, according to Washington State Patrol.
Both he and the men in the ambulance were wearing seat belts. Alcohol was not a factor in the crash, according to state patrol.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012  By Alex Kreitman

BEAUFORT COUNTY, SC (WCSC) -One person was killed and three others were sent to the hospital Tuesday after an ambulance crash in Beaufort County.

According to South Carolina Highway Patrol, the ambulance was traveling north on Old Sheldon Church Road when the vehicle ran off the right side of the roadway, the driver overcorrected and struck a tree.

The Beaufort County Coroner's Office identified the victim as 56-year-old Blandelle Gary, from the from the Yemassee area. She was riding in the passenger seat of the ambulance and was pronounced dead at the scene.


The collision is under investigation by the highway patrol and the patrol's multidisciplinary accident investigation team. The crash occurred about a half a mile down the road off of Highway 17 near a curve.

There were four people in the vehicle, including the driver and a passenger in the front of the ambulance along with a patient and medical worker in the back.

One person was taken to Beaufort Memorial Hospital and the other two were flown to a Savannah hospital.

The conditions of the other victims is unknown at this time.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012  A MAN who allegedly assaulted paramedics and police officers is due to appear before magistrates today. 

Wayne Kielkowski, 29, of Stockford Avenue, Mill Hill was charged with seven offences including grievous bodily harm with intent to a woman paramedic, two counts of actual bodily harm, racially aggravated common assault, criminal damage and racially aggravated threatening behaviour. 

He was charged on Monday after police were called to Barfield Avenue at 12.50pm on Sunday. 

He was held in custody until a hearing at Hendon Magistrates' Court today. 


 

Monday, January 30, 2012  NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Police responded to a crash involving an ambulance Saturday night.

It occurred on a busy stretch of West End, right across from the Amerigo's restaurant.

Life Guard owns the ambulance. It is unclear if they were transporting a patient at the time of the crash.

Investigators have called it a minor crash, but it did include a few injuries. 

Monday, January 30, 2012  A Madisonburg woman was convicted Friday of simple assault for biting an EMT on the arm.

The Centre County District Attorney’s Office said Wendy Richards bit an EMT who was trying to evaluate Richards in the back of an ambulance.

State police in Rockview said at the time they originally responded to her West Street home in August for a report of a domestic dispute.

Police said Richards resisted arrest and locked herself in another room. She then told police she couldn’t breathe, so they called an ambulance.

Richards bit an EMT trying to take her blood pressure in the ambulance, police said.

Richards was sentenced to serve nine months’ probation for the assault.

 

Monday, January 30, 2012  EL PASO, Texas — 

An El Paso man accused of swiping an ambulance, driving to a grocery store and stealing frozen foods has landed in a different kind of cooler.

El Paso police on Tuesday announced the arrest and jailing of John Valdivia of El Paso on theft charges. Bond has been set at nearly $10,200.


An ambulance was stolen Monday night from the emergency parking area of Del Sol Medical Center. Police said the vehicle was taken while waiting to transport a patient.


Police said Valdivia allegedly drove to a market and tried to slip out with some frozen foods. He was followed by grocery store personnel into the parking lot and police were alerted.





Police had no information Tuesday on an attorney for Valdivia. Details on the frozen items weren't immediately released. 

Monday, January 30, 2012  KATHRYN CAIN


A young woman who assaulted a paramedic at a hospital claims she was too drunk to remember what happened.

Jemma Wrighton, 21 of Ashburnham Road, Bedford kicked the paramedic technician repeatedly when she was taken to hospital after police found her intoxicated and lying in the street on Shakespeare Road on December 30.

Toby Earnscliffe, acting for the prosecution, told Bedford Magistrates’ Court that Wrighton had been shouting and swearing at the paramedics and was not cooperating on the way to Bedford Hospital.

She was again told to be quiet by hospital staff before she kicked and punched the victim in the leg.

During the assault she had been kept on a stretcher for her own safety, held down at her shoulders and chest before being restrained by security moments later.

Defending, Andrew Brumhill, said: “She is a very troubled young lady who has been in trouble on a number of occasions for wasting police time and making hoax emergency calls.

“She has mental health issues which have been tackled over the past 12 to 18 months and she has not committed any offences.” The court heard that Wrighton had been out drinking and could not remember assaulting the paramedic or how she became so intoxicated. She later apologised for the incident.

Wrighton pleaded guilty to assault by beating on Tuesday and her case was adjourned for reports. She is due back in front of magistrates on February 15.

Monday, January 30, 2012  A paramedic who was off work for six months after being attacked by a patient is suing ambulance bosses for GBP100,000 after claiming they did not tell her the call-out was dangerous.

Lynn Sutherland was punched and kicked by 16-year-old Grahame Donnelly after racing to his home amid fears he had taken an overdose of anti-depressants.

The 37-year-old suffered injuries to her arm, ribs, shoulder and neck while trying to restrain the teenager.

Ms Sutherland launched a legal action for damages against the Scottish Ambulance Service at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.

Her lawyers argue that the service failed to warn her that the teenager had already attacked his mother, adding that police should have been in attendance to provide support.

Ms Sutherland, who lives in Dalry, was working with colleague, Martin Gemmell, in Livingston when the pair received a message to attend an emergency in Harthill, North Lanarkshire.

Her lawyers told the court that ambulance colleagues in Paisley tried to inform the dispatch centre minutes later that it was a "violent scene" and that the patient had attacked his mother.

The message triggered a warning bar on a dispatcher's screen, but she did not see it and failed to inform the crew.

Ms Sutherland and Mr Gemmell arrived at around 10pm and said she met Donnelly's aunt outside the home but was left with "no reason to suspect the patient was violent".

Once in the sitting room, Ms Sutherland said that Donnelly's mother told them she had been assaulted by her son earlier.

Ms Sutherland said that the teenager got to his feet and punched her in the jaw, leading to a violent struggle when she was punched and kicked.

She alerted police, who arrived at 10.23pm. Four officers, along with the paramedics, restrained the patient.

Her lawyers told the court that Scottish Ambulance Service protocols set out that crews should not work in violent incidents without police support

They argued that had the crew known beforehand, they would have requested police back-up and the dispatch centre's failure to relay the warning constituted a failure to take "reasonable care".

But lawyers for the service said that it was the teenager's mother who had been outside the home and warned them of the attack on her.

The service's lawyers added that it was "not feasible" to "prevent all employees from exposures to violence".

They contended that the situation would not have been any different if the dispatch centre alerted them over the violent behaviour, or whether the mother did outside.

The solicitors firm representing Ms Sutherland, said it did not want to comment.

A Scottish Ambulance Service spokesman said it could not comment. 

Saturday, January 28, 2012  By Steve Reilly

 An ambulance and a car collided head-on at 8:56 a.m. Friday on Hooper Road near Smith Drive in Endwell.  No major injuries were sustained in the crash, which occurred at speeds around 15 mph. The ambulance didn't have patients at the time, police said.  The ambulance's crews responded to the elderly driver of the car, who had lost consciousness.

Friday, January 27, 2012  POLICE have launched an investigation after a road crash involving an ambulance conveying a critically ill patient.

The East of England Ambulance Service vehicle, which was using its blue lights at the time, overturned into a ditch after colliding with a van in Main Road, Danbury, between Hulls Lane and Riffhams Lane, shortly before 10.30am this morning.

It was transporting a man in his 70s who had been unconcious from a house in Great Totham to Broomfield Hospital, in Chelmsford, when the accident happened. The man, who the ambulance service insist remained in a stable condition, was taken by a second ambulance to Broomfield Hospital.

Three members of the initial ambulance crew were also assessed by colleagues and taken separately to the same hospital with minor injuries.

Fire crews from Chelmsford and Baddow were also called to the scene and released a trapped man within 40 minutes.

It is not known whether the trapped man was the patient or a member of the ambulance crew.

A spokesman for Essex Police confirmed they are investigating the circumstances surrounding the collision and said that the road was closed for about two hours.

Ambulance service spokesman Gary Sanderson added: “An immediate investigation has been launched by our trust to find out the cause of the collision this morning and we are working closely with Essex Police."

Friday, January 27, 2012  On Thursday morning Waite Park Police were called to an accident between an ambulance and a car at the intersection of County Road 75 and 28th Avenue.

An ambulance was traveling eastbound on County Road 75 with its red lights and sirens on. According to police, the ambulance entered the intersection on a red light while the driver of another car was making a left turn to go westbound on County Road 75 with a green light when the ambulance hit the car.

The driver of the ambulance 35-year-old Holly Bershceit and the patient being transported 61-year-old Barbara Lieser and her husband 63-year-old Kenneth Lieser were not injured in the crash. The driver of the car, James Hanson did not need hospitalization.