A PARAMEDIC AND AN EMT IN SUSSEX, ENGLAND, were arrested and charged with “suspicion of wilfully neglecting to perform a duty in public office.”
Their problem began on November 29 when a 59-yr.-old man in Brighton called 9-9-9 complaining of severe chest pains. The ambulance staffed with the two men in question arrived promptly, not knowing that the man had collapsed while still on the phone and the line was still connected and recording everything.
The Daily Telegraph tells what happened next:
Minutes later the control staff heard the crew enter the house. A police source said: “What they heard after their ambulance crew arrived frankly astonished them.
“Apparently their first reaction was to comment on the untidy and unkempt state of the house. Then they are heard to comment on seeing Mr Baker and allegedly saying that it was not worth bothering to try to carry out resuscitation to try to save him. They then are heard discussing what to tell ambulance control and allegedly decide to say that he was already dead when they arrived.
“Obviously the crew did not realise that the phone was still connected and, of course, the 999 call was all recorded on tape,” said the source.
The unnamed ambulance staff were arrested after the tape was handed to the Sussex Police Major Crime Team.
The two men, ages 35 and 44, have been suspended from duty at the South East Coast Ambulance NHS Trust and they are currently free on bail while the police continue their investigation.
The Telegraph has the complete story HERE.
Sky News has a video report:
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