The police intervened this Saturday at the beginning of the evening in La Hestre (Manage) following an attack on rescuers. According to the mayor, an ambulance was called to a snack bar for a person in a very advanced state of intoxication. “We feared for this person. Paramedics were nearby and quickly rushed to the scene. In wanting to intervene, the person attacked an ambulance driver, kicked him and injured his cheekbone“, indicates Bruno Pozzoni this Saturday evening. Still according to the mayor, the police of the Mariemont area intervened and the individual was imprisoned. The slightly injured paramedic was treated.
He pounced on them
Stéphane Richter, director of R-Médic (private ambulance company and employing two paramedics), indicates that the individual who attacked the rescuers “He was immediately very annoyed at the arrival of help. He was unhappy that someone had called an ambulance. He had urinated on himself, which can be a medical sign that should not be overlooked. It could be a sign of convulsion for example.”
He pursues: “The paramedics offered to examine him to make sure there was no bigger problem. But the individual then pounced on them like an animal. No hospitalization necessary for the injured rescuer, but the two paramedics are in shock. Two passers-by intervened and managed to control the individual, before the arrival of the police.
For several months, the emergency services have expressed their fed up with increasingly frequent attacks. “It’s misunderstanding and anger. This type of aggression is more and more frequent and becomes less and less controllable. We don’t have the feeling of being followed and it becomes very heavy to bear. Soon , there will soon be no more guardian angels to save us”, says Stéphane Richter, who estimates that more than 80% of his staff has already been the victim of an attack. “Today, the paramedics are lost and are more and more fearful to go into intervention. Especially since justice does not intervene.”
The case of this Saturday evening is far from isolated. Last May, another paramedic from the same company was violently attacked by two motorists. One of them had tried to stab him. Fortunately, he hadn’t succeeded.
Last night’s assault reminds Vincent of what he himself went through. “I confess to you that the first times, I did not have it easy. Afterwards, we have no choice, life goes on. I’m not going to fuck up my life for in the end, a person who doesn’t can’t control ourselves. We get back in the ambulance and try to move on as best we can”he confides.
Difficult today for these paramedics not to question everything. “It’s not easy to intervene in situations like this. We do our job as best we can. We are not paid to be attacked, and you have to tell yourself that the person who attack will one day need us.”