LANCASTER, Pa. — Newly released body-camera footage shows a rare and harrowing scene: a paramedic stabbed multiple times inside her own ambulance while trying to help a man. What began as a 911 call for a suspected overdose led responders to a narrow alley, where a man cried out for help.
Lancaster EMS Paramedic Melanie Kempf says the call nearly cost her life. As she leaned over the gurney to treat an intoxicated patient who claimed he had glass in his foot, he grew agitated, raised his voice and turned violent, Local 12 reported.
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Body-camera footage shows the man suddenly erupting, flailing, kicking and screaming, as Kempf and her partner try to restrain him. Within 20 seconds, the partner calls for backup. Video shows a knife in the man’s hand and an officer lunging to disarm him. The knife was wrestled away, but not before Kempf was stabbed multiple times.
Her partner shouted to check if she was hurt, and Kempf told him she’d been stabbed in the stomach.
Amid the struggle, the man grabbed an officer’s holstered gun and fired, narrowly missing the already-wounded Kempf, according to Local 12. Several officers subdued him and secured him to a gurney. A second ambulance rushed Kempf for care. She survived but said she carries lasting physical and emotional scars, including a prominent abdominal scar.
After surviving a violent stabbing inside her ambulance, Kempf turned her trauma into advocacy. She now leads training at her agency’s EMT academy and shares her story to improve provider safety, promote mental health support and prevent similar attacks.
Have you been assaulted by a patient? What was the outcome, and how did your department respond?
