Pa. paramedics to answer calls with city SWAT team

July 12, 2009 05:39 AM

By Jill King Greenwood
The Pittsburgh Tribune Review

PITTSBURGH, Pa. — City officials say they started plans to match up paramedics with Pittsburgh’s SWAT team before three officers died in Stanton Heights in April. But the slayings “underscored” the need to provide quick care to injured officers, leaders said.

Several dozen city paramedics this week took a physical agility test to qualify for try-outs with the tactical EMS team, said emergency medical Chief Robert McCaughan.

The training program will accept 12 paramedics, who will go through tactical and firearms training and police procedures briefings before they can accompany police officers on SWAT calls: serving search warrants and responding to hostage standoffs and other emergencies.

“This is a great opportunity for us, because we already work closely with the officers on River Rescue and we look forward to doing this with SWAT,” said paramedic Tony Weinmann, union president of the International Association of Professional Paramedics Local No. 1.

“This is an important thing, to be there to aid any officers or other individuals who are injured during an incident.”

The paramedics will be outfitted with the same protective gear as SWAT officers but will not carry guns, McCaughan said.

Whether the medics will go into more dangerous situations to help injured officers, suspects or bystanders will depend on the severity of the injury, McCaughan said.

On April 4, police were able to reach fallen Officer Eric G. Kelly by throwing bulletproof vests onto a van, after he was shot while responding to a domestic dispute in Stanton Heights. But officers and SWAT team members spent hours exchanging gunfire with suspect Richard Poplawski before they could reach the bodies of Officers Stephen J. Mayhle and Paul J. Sciullo II, who were the first to respond.

The deaths “made it clear we really needed to do this,” Weinmann said about training paramedics.

Pittsburgh has 161 paramedics. McCaughan said the program would not affect staffing levels. When the SWAT team is serving an arrest warrant or other activity planned in advance, the EMS bureau will make sure ambulance stations are staffed, McCaughan said.

In the event of an emergency call-out, the bureau would shift medics from other areas to compensate for the absence of tactical medics, Weinmann said.

Officials in Pittsburgh “gleaned information” from other cities with similar programs, including Austin, Texas, and Kansas City, Mo., McCaughan said.

In Austin, where tactical medics have been stationed with SWAT officers for several years, police Sgt. Richard Stresing said the program just makes sense.

“When you’re dealing with SWAT officers, you’re dealing with a lot of weapons, tear gas, flash bangs and the high potential for injury,” Stresing said.

“These medics are just like combat medics. They can go into the scene, extract the wounded, and just like in a combat situation, they might be under heavy fire. But it makes more sense than waiting for someone to be injured, calling 911 and waiting five or 10 minutes for an ambulance to get there.”