Strangers are bad enough, now it is the cops...

[PCB]

MEDIC SHOT: This week is National Emergency Medical Services Week. http://www.acep.org/practres.aspx?id=30212

....so this story again demonstrates the risks that all EMS folks have to deal with. This time, on Monday, an EMT was shot on the job in East St. Louis (IL) and is now in fair condition in the hospital after the Doc's pulled a slug from his arm. A second bullet, lodged in his chest, remains. The EMT, Patrick Bierman, 23, is the first MedStar employee to be shot on the job. EMT Bierman graduated from Northern Illinois University on Saturday. Bierman was shot while transporting another shooting victim.

The incident began when two men were shot about 2100 on Monday as they sat in a car ...about 2140, shots were fired from a small red car into the ambulance as they were transporting. EMT Bierman, though shot twice, managed to turn over the drivers seat to another EMT and no one else in the ambulance was hit. All three shooting victims remained in area hospitals today and are all expected to live. We wish EMT Bierman the best for a rapid recovery.

WHILE NOT JOB RELATED: Our condolences to Cranston (R.I.) FF's on the loss of brother FF James Pagano. Families were celebrating at FF Pagano's kids birthday party when it suddenly took a deadly turn last Sunday around 3. Some of the little kids from the birthday party had accidentally wandered into the neighboring yard of retired Providence police officer Nick Gianquitti....an argument broke out between Gianquitti and FF Pagano, who was hosting the party....the fight escalated to the point where Gianquitti grabbed a gun and shot Pagano dead. Gianquitti was arraigned Monday morning on murder charges in 3rd District Court. FF Pagano leaves behind his wife and two young children.

[firedoc5]

I use to know several MedStar employees, even back when it was Campbell Ambulance, based out of Centralia, IL. Hate to hear something like that happening. I know how E. St.Louis can be, very dangerous.

And the RI incident, very sad.

[CBEMT]

While I didn't know him, I was in the same room as Lt. Pagano last week, watching him and others sworn in as new officers. I was there for a relative of my fiance being sworn in as a new firefighter.

Freaky.

The worst part was initially the police treated the scene as a barricaded subject and wouldn't allow CFD in to start treatment. Pagano lay in the street dead or dying, and the guys who responded had to just stand there and watch. Eventually two officers drove their car between Pagano and the suspect's house, pulled him in, and drove him out to the ambulance.

I can't imagine what his family is going through. His poor son will probably never want a birthday party ever again.

[Just Plain Ruff]

this is tragic tragic tragic. Imagine what his son will remember on his birthday for the rest of his life?

May the shooter rot in hell.

[Dustdevil]

May the shooter rot in hell.

Not til I hear the results of the investigation and trial. Sounds to me like it may well have been justified.

But may the kids rot in Hell for putting their dad in that position.

[Richard B the EMT]

dustdevil wrote

But may the kids rot in Hell for putting their dad in that position.

Wait one.

The news article states

Some of the little kids from the birthday party had accidentally wandered into the neighboring yard of retired Providence police officer Nick Gianquitti.

(Emphasis is mine.)

Kids at parties, indeed, just visiting, sometimes pay unintended visits to the neighbors, witness how the cartoon character Dennis (the Menace) Mitchell is so often at the house of his neighbors, George and Martha Wilson.

A child makes an innocent mistake, and you'd wish the child rot in Hell?

[EMTrocker]

Not til I hear the results of the investigation and trial. Sounds to me like it may well have been justified.

But may the kids rot in Hell for putting their dad in that position.

Your the best ..... :ky: :thebirdman:

[MedicNorth]

The responses here really hit me in the gut - how the hell can anyone say that shooting a man dead because his kids went into the neighbour's yard is justified? A kid trespassing is a kid trespassing - would it be ok to shoot the kids too?

Ah - but they didn't get shot - instead they put their dad in that position, so instead of dying, they deserve to rot in hell. Well, they will be in hell as they deal with the consequences of their mistake for the rest of their lives.

Kids do stuff that is not smart. Dads sticking up for their kids do too. That is NEVER a capital offense.

crap, already!

[Dustdevil]

I can assure you that, if you come onto my property and take a swing at me, it is indeed a capital offence. If that is what happened here, then yeah, ol' boy was asking for it.

[CBEMT]

The shooter had been the cranky old man of the neighborhood for years. Pagano had no reason to swing at him. Why would he? He had a yard full of kids and parents behind him.

He goes to get the ball back, shooter gets in his face, there's some pushing and shoving, and suddenly Pagano's on the ground with a bullet through his aorta.

Incidentally, NOT fired from the gun that the shooter had a CC permit for, but one of his other guns. That could prove to be a problem for him.