Unprofessional, Abusive FDNY Paramedics

Daniel A. Nigro, Fire Commissioner

FDNY

9 Metro Tech Center                                               Re: FDNY Paramedics

Brooklyn, NY 11201

December 21, 2019

Dear Commissioner Nigro:

There's a saying, no good deed goes unpunished. I learned that lesson last night [December 20].

On 116th Street, near 8th Avenue, in front of what used to be a 7-Eleven store, was an elderly black man lying on the icy sidewalk wrapped in a blue blanket on a night when the temperature was in the mid-twenties. One of his shoes was off.

At 11:44 p.m., I called 911 to report a person in a dangerous situation. Two FDNY paramedics (both white; one male, the other female) arrived in less than five minutes in Ambulance 1358. But I should have expected the worst when it took them nearly five minutes to exit the vehicle. Apparently they were reluctant to get out in the cold air.When they did get out, they took out a stretcher and with the help of another man who had also called them, attempted to get the old man on the stretcher. He was becoming belligerent, using profanities and threatening to "bop" the female paramedic. She responded that she would bop him back. He rolled off the stretcher and onto the sidewalk. They had to lift him by his coat back onto the stretcher.

Then the female paramedic got angry that she had to deal with a resistant old man. She said I should mind my business and then said that I should take him to my apartment, that they couldn't make a person go to the hospital. She was completely out of line and not acting like a professional. I'm trying to do a good deed by saving someone from freezing to death and instead of receiving thanks, I get chewed out for calling 911. I told her she should do her job and that she was ignorant.

To me, instead of calling these two paramedics First Responders, they should be called First Responding Idiots. How can anyone be angry with someone for trying to be a good citizen?

When I got home, I called both 911 and 311 and filed a complaint with the FDNY. If the two paramedics can't deal with the public in a dignified and respectful manner, they should find another line of work.

Their attitude will not stop me from calling 911 when I see someone in a life-threatening situation. These two paramedics, especially the female, are in desperate need of sensitivity training.

Sincerely yours,

Charles M. Smith

CC: Bill Perkins, City Council, 9th District
        Jumaane Williams, Public Advocate