Trending Topics

Md. EMS crew safety comes into focus following incident

Certain protocols are followed for dispatching police, fire and emergency medical personnel to different situations

By Erika Butler
Baltimore Sun

ABERDEEN, Md. — An Aberdeen Fire Department EMS crew locked itself in its ambulance Tuesday night when it arrived on the scene of an emergency call in Perryman and encountered a large fight, prompting questions the about the safety of first responders in what two knowledgeable public safety officials concede is a changing county.

The ambulance was responding for a call of a sick woman in the 400 block of Daugherty Lane around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to Richard Gardiner of the Harford County Volunteer Fire & EMS Association and Edward Hopkins, spokesman for the Harford County Sheriff’s Office. Both have been involved in public safety issues for more two decades or more.

The woman, Hopkins said later, was suffering from withdrawal from some type of medication.
When they arrived, members of the EMS crew reported people were fighting in the road and they “locked themselves in the unit for their own safety,” Gardiner said.

Full story: EMS crew safety comes into focus following Perryman crowd incident