A 29-year-old thug is starting 12 months in prison after being convicted of assaulting a paramedic.
He was also ordered to pay a ‘surcharge’ of £156 after launching his unprovoked attack on the emergency ambulance crew.
As well as repeatedly punching one of the life-saving paramedics, the thug also became verbally abusive and aggressive towards the second paramedic.
Luke Wilson, of West Street, Scunthorpe, pleaded guilty to two counts of Assault of an Emergency Worker at Grimsby Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, 8 October 2020.
Wilson also pleaded guilty to possessing a bladed article in a public area.
The court heard how the ambulance crew was called to a children’s play area in Scunthorpe on Wednesday 12 August, after a group of concerned children spotted Wilson lying in the play area.
Wilson became aggressive after the two paramedics arrived at the scene and helped him to get up onto his feet.
The two emergency workers started to back away from Wilson as he began to swing his arms towards them and began to shout abuse.
He also punched one of the paramedics in the wrist when they tried to use their radio to request back-up.
EMAS Paramedic, Kevin Martin, who was responding with his colleague from Scunthorpe Ambulance Station, said:
“When we arrived at the scene, we could tell that the man was conscious and breathing, but it looked like he was intoxicated, so we proceeded with caution.
“I am glad that these young children who phoned for an ambulance had decided not to approach this man as I dread to think how he would have behaved given the way he reacted to us.
“When we returned to the ambulance, I pushed the ‘red button’ which sends out an alert to all my colleagues in the area that we were in distress and needed immediate help.
“We could not continue to respond to other patients who may have needed us while we were dealing with this patient’s violent behaviour and then because we needed to help the police with their enquiries.”
“I have worked for the ambulance service for just under 30 years and this is the second time I have experienced a serious assault like this in only a matter of months.”
A few months before this incident, another patient had pulled out a machete on Kevin and threatened him.
Kelvin Langford, Local Security Management Specialist at EMAS, said:
“Assaults on our staff are absolutely unacceptable, and we take a zero-tolerance approach towards anyone who verbally or physically assaults them.
“Our frontline colleagues, as well as our team in our 999-control room, are here to help people, not to be assaulted, and they deserve to be treated with respect.
“We will continue to support any of our colleagues who are assaulted on the frontline while trying to help others and to work with the police and the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute those who abuse our colleagues.”
This latest assault is reflective of a worrying trend that has seen members of the emergency services seriously assaulted in the line of duty.
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It is all very well spokespeople saying that violence towards emergency workers is unacceptable, but in reality, it is so much hot air. They can do little about it. Yes, the police arrest the perpetrators and sometimes charge them. More rarely are they convicted and herein lies the problem.
Even if successful, the punishments are pitiful. This guy will be free in 6 months and will probably do the same thing again to another emergency worker. Unless and until the courts get really tough and start handing down some big custodial sentences which, even with a 50% discount, will still cause real anguish on the part of the criminal, this behaviour will continue. Very simply, if they are locked up in there, they cannot be causing mayhem out here.
While our courts might be fairly independent, judges are severely curtailed in their ability to properly lock up criminals because of sentencing guidelines which favour anything other than jail time.
We need a government that is prepared to spend real money on jails and be quite happy to fill them. If that means building WW2 style prison camps, so be it.
Sheriff Joe Arpiao of Arizona has built a whole new jail for $100,000, most of which went on razor wire. The felons live in Korean war surplus tents and sleep on steel bunks the look more like shelves. The are fed a bland, root vegetable bake for every meal and the message is very simple. If you do not like it here, do not come back. Your future is in your hands. You decide.
The 50C heat and hard bunks are not going anywhere and if you choose to come back, you will always be welcome. It is your choice and nobody else’s. Choose wisely and you need never spend years in the desert again.
12 months, I wish I could swear on here, what is wrong with our weak judges are they so old they can’t do there. I hope the paramedic is o.k I have a very high regard for our paramedics.