An investigation has been launched into the death of a Rochester, New York, man who was reportedly thrown from an ambulance by first responders in late November and fell to the sidewalk.
“We tried to help […] “But the way you came here and the way you threw yourself at us is no way to ask anyone for help,” the paramedic can be heard saying to the man sitting in the emergency vehicle, according to body camera footage from the Rochester Police Department, which was shared by NBC News10.
Rochester Mayor Malik Evans said at a news conference Thursday that he was “stunned” by the treatment allegedly meted out to a man, whose identity has not been released, who had just asked for help because he was having difficulty getting Breathe, New York Post reported.
“We have to get to the bottom of this. We need to understand how and why this happened. “The residents of the city are human beings and they deserve to be treated humanely and with the same attention as everyone else,” he stressed, according to American media.
In the body camera images that begin when police arrive on the scene on November 30, we can hear the paramedic accusing the patient of throwing himself on the healthcare team until he had to call police to remove him him out of the vehicle.
“I panicked. “You would panic too if you couldn’t breathe,” he can be heard replying, before finally getting out of the ambulance and waiting on the sidewalk for a second ambulance.
Except in the minutes that follow, we see him fall on his side and remain motionless on the ground for more than two minutes before one of the nearby police officers finally comes to check on his condition.
The man was taken to a hospital and died after two weeks, the mayor confirmed, according to the New York Post, but the cause of death was not disclosed.
Ambulance service American Medical Response reportedly agreed to the mayor's request to open an internal investigation into the incident.
“We have also requested an investigation by the New York State Department of Health Office regarding emergency care and trauma systems,” he told 13 ABC, according to the US media outlet.