An aide to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin asked first responders to avoid using lights and sirens in requesting an ambulance be sent to Austin’s northern Virginia home earlier this month
An aide to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin asked first responders to avoid using lights and sirens in requesting an ambulance be sent to Austin’s northern Virginia home after he had complications from surgery for prostate cancer that he had kept secret from senior Biden administration leaders and staff.
Austin was hospitalized Jan. 1 and admitted to intensive care after developing an infection a week after undergoing surgery. He was released from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Monday.
On the Jan. 1 call to the Fairfax County Department of Public Safety, a man who identified himself as a government employee described Austin as alert. The identity of Austin and the caller were redacted from a copy of the 911 audio, which was obtained by The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act. The caller named the street on which Austin lives.
In the four-minute call, the reason for needing the ambulance also was redacted. The caller said Austin was not having chest pains.
“Can I ask, like, can the ambulance not show up with lights and sirens? Um, we’re trying to remain a little subtle,” the aide said, according to the recording.
A dispatcher responded that the ambulance would comply once it got near the home.
“Usually when they turn into a residential neighborhood, they’ll turn them off,” the dispatcher said, adding that emergency sirens and lights are required by law on major roads when ambulances are responding to a call.
