Thomas Tracy
New York Daily News
BROOKLYN — A mumbling man pulled a pistol on a pair of city emergency medical technicians during a near-deadly encounter in Brooklyn, EMS union officials said Friday.
The two emergency medical technicians had just responded to a 911 call in the New Lots section of Brooklyn and were rolling to a central location near EMS Station 32 about 10:50 p.m. Tuesday when the unidentified man stepped in front of their ambulance from behind two parked cars near the corner of Mother Gaston Blvd. and Hegeman Ave.
The EMS providers stopped the ambulance to let him pass, but he didn’t move and instead stood by the passenger side headlight, staring at them.
A moment later, the man pulled a gun out from under his sweatshirt and aimed it at the two EMTs.
The man mumbled as he pointed the gun at each of the EMTs’ heads, the crew said.
After a brief standoff, the man ran off without pulling the trigger.
“There’s definitely a difference between someone just being all talk trying to scare you and threaten you, and someone who really plans on shooting you,” said one of the terrified EMTs, who wished not to be named. “This guy was 1,000% about to shoot us. I’m still shocked that he didn’t.”
The EMTs alerted their dispatcher, who directed them to Brookdale University Medical Center so they could file a report with the police.
Cops were still looking for the gunman Friday, an NYPD spokeswoman said.
“We are grateful that the crew is OK, but they are undoubtedly shaken up following this incident,” Oren Barzilay, the president of Local 2507, which represents city EMTs and paramedics, said Friday.
The union leader said violence and threats against his members was shockingly common.
“It’s undeniable the history of EMS members and workers being held at gunpoint or threatened while on the job,” he said. “It only shows how crimes and threats to public safety are escalating without due regard to public safety personnel.”
Violent incidents against EMS members include an incident when a 29-year-old Brooklyn man attacked two paramedics saving him from a drug overdose in Bedford- Stuyvesant in October, union officials said.
In March, a drugged-up teenage girl chomped down on an FDNY paramedic’s face as she rendered care in Brooklyn, ripping off pieces of cheek.
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