Charleston Daily Mail
CHARLESTON, N.C. — A paramedic with the Kanawha County Emergency Ambulance Authority has been fired after being charged with slapping a person who had been arrested by Dunbar police.
Michael Wears, 37, of Gallipolis Ferry, was arrested Wednesday on charges of misdemeanor battery. He is charged with slapping a male who was under arrest for public intoxication on May 19.
A Dunbar patrolman called for a paramedic while he was transporting the person to the police station because of statements he made, according to the arrest report on file in Kanawha County Magistrate Court.
The report says Wears slapped the fellow in the face as he sat handcuffed in the back of the police cruiser.
“We don’t know exactly why he slapped the guy,” Dunbar Police Chief E.E. Whittington said.
However, the chief said the incident occurred after an argument between the victim and Wears, who also pulled the individual from the cruiser.
Wears was not arrested immediately because officers wanted to get both sides of the story, Whittington said.
Wears was fired from his position as a paramedic earlier this week after an internal investigation, said Bill Carpenter, operations manager at the Kanawha County Emergency Ambulance Authority.
“This all comes down to patient care, and we won’t tolerate this kind of stuff,” Carpenter said.
Carpenter was unsure exactly how long Wears had been employed by the authority, saying that it was for a “few years.”
Whittington hopes the incident does not shake the public’s confidence in the way local paramedics conduct themselves on the job. He called it an isolated incident.
“Every paramedic I’ve ever dealt with has been very professional,” Whittington said.
Wears was released on a personal recognizance bond.