West Midlands Ambulance Service Paramedic attacked in ‘parking row’

A Paramedic based in Birmingham has been assaulted by a member of the public over what is believed to be an incident that was sparked by the member of public in question, taking ‘offence’ at where the emergency ambulance had been parked as its crew helped a patient.

The Paramedic who was assaulted, who has not been named, had been called to Sparkhill in Birmingham with his crewmate in order to help a woman who had called 999 owing to chest pains.

The full details aren’t entirely clear, but it is believed that the male, who was arrested, took it upon himself to kick off with the Medic’s over where their ambulance had been parked whilst potentially life-saving assistance was given to the woman with the chest pains.

Crewmate Tasha Starkey tweeted that she was also threatened and verbally abused by the cowardly male in a disgraceful & vile act of self-importance on behalf of the attacker.

A 49-year-old man was arrested nearby on suspicion of assault and a public order offence and statements were taken from the two WMAS Medics by colleagues from West Midlands Police.

Whilst writing this article, It came to light that the male was charged with the offence(s) and subsequently cautioned.

It is a shame, however, that the 49-year-old male wasn’t put before the Courts in order that he could potentially face a tougher sentence.

But without knowing the full details of the case, we wouldn’t want to draw any speculative reasons or conclusions as to why the male was only cautioned.

It could have been that the Officers in the case were advised by the CPS to caution the male, but this is just based on my own experiences from my days in the Met Police.

It is a shame that the male hasn’t been used as an ‘example’ by the judiciary in relation to taking a zero tolerance approach to anyone who attacks any colleague in the emergency services/NHS.

This incident is just one of many whereby individuals, for reasons which seem to defy any notion of decency or common sense, think that emergency ambulance crews should take the time to find a suitable parking space before dealing with their patients.

What intelligent person, would actually assert that ambulances should find parking spaces before helping their patients???

Of course, we all know that if any of the individuals leaving notes, or assaulting/abusing our colleagues, needed the help of medics, then they would be mortified if they had to wait in agonising pain whilst ambulance crews looked for suitable parking spaces!

How can it be, that our society has produced individuals who believe that assaulting or threatening ambulance crews is in any way ‘acceptable’?

We are passionate about speaking up for our colleagues, regardless of which service they are in and we will continue to do so.

The only way to deal with anyone who is guilty of an offence involving the abuse or assault of our emergency services, is to throw the book at them.

We cannot expect our emergency services to undertake the job that they do, whilst worrying about where they are going to park their emergency ambulances just in case some bone-idle fool kicks off.

Of course, there are those respectable and honourable people, who have left messages of support on Ambulances; which is great – and we applaud them for doing so.

But we cannot allow a situation to develop whereby ambulance crews have to start thinking about where they park their ambulances before rendering life-saving assistance to patients.

COMMENT

Running one of the largest emergency services communities on social media, we get messages all the time from colleagues who have been abused or assaulted whilst they try to carry out their life-saving work. 

It is an utter disgrace that anyone of sound mind, thinks that they have the ‘right’ to lay a single finger on ANY of our colleagues. 

The individuals responsible for these vile acts, have no right to ANY of the privileges which come with living in a society whereby ANYONE can call 999 and get life-saving help, for free. 

We have always taken the stance, that anyone convicted of assaulting or verbally abusing members of the emergency services & NHS, should have their access to the emergency services and NHS revoked. 

The individuals responsible for these despicable acts, need to start taking responsibility for their actions. 

What do we normally do, if our children abuse any of the privileges which we give to them? We take the privileges away. So adults, who still act like children, should be treated like children. 

The abusers of emergency services personnel, can then make their own provisions for emergency care.

And when we end up reading about the abuser who needed help, but couldn’t get any because their access to the 999 system had been withdrawn, then maybe, just maybe, it will make future potential abusers of our emergency services think twice before they conduct themselves in such a disgusting, vile and despicable manner.

Needless to say, that the male convicted of assaulting our colleagues will be given a special place in the next issue of S__ts & Giggles under our ‘Darwin Award’ section. 

Written by one of the many admins of emergency services humour on Facebook, who is also a regular contributor to our popular fortnightly eMagazine, aptly named ‘S__ts & Giggles‘. 

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