By Dave Statter
dstatter@wusa9.com
STATter 911 — http://www.statter911.com
WUSA9 — http://www.wusa9.com
STATter 911 has learned Selena Walker, the EMT who drove David Rosenbaum to the hospital, is about to begin retraining as she rejoins the DC Fire & EMS Department. Walker was fired after an inspector general’s report determined she decided to take the injured former New York Times reporter to Howard University Hospital, instead of the closer Sibley Hospital, so Walker could make a stop at her own home. The report also concluded Walker got lost driving the ambulance to the emergency.
Through a spokesman, DC Fire & EMS Chief Dennis Rubin told STATter 911, “The OEA (Office of Employee Appeals) judge ruled that we will allow her to return to duty. This ruling was affirmed by the DC Superior Court”.
According to sources, Walker is scheduled to receive retraining as an emergency medical technician within the next few weeks. The instruction will occur during a class at the department’s training academy in Southwest Washington.
The DC Office of the Inspector General (OIG) reported Walker diverted to Howard University Hospital so she could pick up medicine from her apartment. Walker’s partner on Ambulance 18 told investigators the ambulance made the stop after leaving Rosenbaum at the hospital.
The DC Fire & EMS Department began termination procedures against Walker on June 16, 2006 after the OIG report was completed and more than six months after David Rosenbaum’s death.
Walker fought the firing, claiming it was not done in a timely manner. Her attorney cited a section of the Official DC Code that reads, “Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, no corrective or adverse action against any sworn member or civilian employee of the Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department or the Metropolitan Police Department shall be commenced more than 90 days, not including Saturdays, Sundays, or legal holidays, after the date that the Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department or the Metropolitan Police Department knew or should have known of the act or occurrence allegedly constituting cause”.
The case of David Rosenbaum brought renewed attention to the city’s troubled emergency medical service after Rosenbaum was robbed and beaten on a street in Upper Northwest Washington on January 6, 2006. The OIG determined Rosenbaum did not receive proper treatment at the scene, in the ambulance and at Howard University Hospital. This included a failure to diagnose the head injury that caused Rosenbaum’s death two days later. First responders believed David Rosenbaum was inebriated.
David Rosenbaum’s family dropped a lawsuit against the District of Columbia after assurances the city’s EMS system would be improved. Relatives participated in a task force formed by Mayor Adrian Fenty and chaired by Chief Rubin. The recommendations from the task force helped form the framework of how EMS is currently delivered in Washington.
Contacted Thursday evening, David Rosenbaum’s relatives had no comment about this latest development.
Since 1972 Dave Statter has covered the news. A good deal of Dave’s reporting has focused on how fire and emergency medical services are delivered in and around Washington and Baltimore. Along the way, Dave was also a volunteer firefighter, an emergency dispatcher and a cardiac rescue technician.