WASHINGTON — Why did it take an ambulance nearly twenty minutes to reach an injured police officer?
That question was finally answered Thursday in a report released by the Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice, and the report places the blame on the crews of three ambulances and one supervising officer.
But the presidents of the local police and firefighters union call the report a “joke” for going after lower-level employees instead of management.
Two weeks ago, it took nearly twenty-minutes for an ambulance to respond to a police officer that was hit by a car. That’s almost three times the national average. So what took so long? According to the report, “three improperly out of service units (ambulances) failed to properly follow protocol.” Medic 19 and Medic 27 had been granted out of service status, but the crews had failed to properly monitor their radios. The third unit, Ambulance 15, failed to ensure that their unit was identified as available for service. The report also blasts a supervision officer.
“We believe that an Emergency Liaison Officer, who serves as the central hub — the quarterback — for operations, failed to act appropriately,” said Paul Quander, Deputy Mayor of Public Safety and Justice
Seven people — paramedics, firefighters, and one supervising officer —are now facing disciplinary action. Quander blames the incident on human error, not a system-wide problem. But the president of the local firefighters union disagrees, especially when it comes to Ambulance 15.
Reprinted with permission from WUSA 9