They’re helping to save lives — while their own are being threatened.
Assaults and other threats leveled against emergency medical service workers are almost a daily …
They’re helping to save lives — while their own are being threatened. Assaults and other threats leveled against emergency medical service workers are almost a daily occurrence — skyrocketing 137% from 2018 through last year, according to city data obtained exclusively by The Post. The staggering numbers come as just last week Staten Island emergency medical technician Richard McMahon was blasted in the shoulder by a drunk patient in the back of an ambulance. The number of “workplace violence” incidents involving first responders like McMahon more than doubled from 163 in 2018 to 386 last year — evidence that ambulance crews regularly face life-threatening dangers. The number of incidents first jumped to 217 in 2019 and then surged to 329 during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Logs reviewed by The Post show EMTS and paramedics are routinely punched, kicked, bitten, spit on and threatened by patients brandishing knives and other weapons — many emotionally disturbed or high on drugs.
“Unfortunately, it’s the world we live in. It happens much more than it’s made public,” McMahon told The Post while recovering at home after surviving the terrifying ordeal last week. Oren Barzilay, head of the Local 2507 union representing EMTS, paramedics and fire inspectors, blamed a worsening mental-health crisis on top of state lawmakers passing soft-on-crime policies, such as the no-cash bail law, for causing the increase in attacks on EMS workers.
“It’s disturbing to see these incidents of violence on the rise,” he said. “”Bail reform has certainly had an impact.”
Queens Councilwoman Joanna Ariola, who chairs the committee overseeing fire and emergency services, said tougher bail laws and beefed-up police manpower are needed to help protect ambulance crews on 911 calls.
