Editor’s note: KABC-TV reported Thursday Firefighter-medic Charles MacDougall is expected to fully recover from his injuries, while his attacker remains at large.
In a previous article we looked at violence against EMS professionals and wondered if we needed to rethink scene safety issues. While the number of fatalities are low — 2 were reported to the National EMS Memorialin 2009 — it’s not clear how many incidents occur overall.
Studies of workplace violence against EMS providers have indicated that 61 percent had experienced it, and 25 percent had suffered an injury as a result of violent acts. Stories like this one serves as a powerful reminder to stay alert as if your life depended upon it — because sometimes it does.
- Art Hsieh, EMS1 Editorial Advisor
City News Service
LOS ANGELES — A city firefighter was stabbed today while responding to a medical call in downtown Los Angeles, prompting an intensive police search for the assailant.
The firefighter, identified by the Fire Department as nine-year veteran Charles Anthony MacDougall, was expected to survive.
The stabbing occurred around 10:50 a.m. in the 600 block of South Main Street in downtown Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
KCAL9 reported that MacDougall and other firefighters were responding to a medical call at the Hotel Cecil and were searching for a patient inside the building when the stabbing occurred. MacDougall was reportedly stabbed in the back and chest.
Police were called and officers went floor by floor, searching for the assailant.
“The officers got on scene, met with some of the fire department personnel and determined that there was a stabbing of one of the firefighters somewhere inside of the location, possibly,” LAPD Capt. Todd Chamberlain said around 1 p.m. “At that time, the location was kind of — we contained it. A perimeter was established around the structure and a systematic search is under way at this time.”
LAPD Sgt. Daniel Widman described the suspect as a man in his 30s with a dark complexion and wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt.
Main Street was closed between Sixth and Seventh streets while the search continued.
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