13 November 2009
A patient who dialled 999 and then
threatened three ambulance staff with a knife has been sentenced to
a 12-month community order.
Vincent Moloney, 54, of Pembridge Gardens,
Bayswater, appeared at West London Magistrates’ Court
yesterday (Thursday). He pleaded guilty to possessing a weapon and
to using threatening behaviour towards a paramedic and two
emergency medical technicians (EMTs).
Fulham Paramedic Neil Thomas managed to get
the knife from Mr Moloney during the incident on Kensington High
Street, before calling the police.
Neil said: “We pulled up at the scene and this
man pulled out a Stanley knife and began waving it through the
passenger window.
“We got out of the ambulance and he then
revealed he was actually the patient we had arrived to treat.
“He became even more aggressive and abusive.
He took his jacket off and threw it down, as if to indicate he was
ready for a fight.
“By this point the knife was back in his
pocket, so to avoid things escalating I reached in and took it from
him.”
Mr Moloney escaped on a bus before police
arrived. However, just 30 minutes later, the same crew attended to
him at Notting Hill Gate. He was later arrested at hospital.
Welcoming the sentence, Neil said: “I’m glad
he has been prosecuted. It’s not right that he called us for help,
we turned up and then he decided to threaten us.
“In some ways you learn to put up with this
sort of thing, especially the verbal abuse, and it’s tolerated as
part of the job. But it shouldn’t happen.”
Neil and his crewmate EMT Ian Letts, along
with fast response car EMT Sarah Frost were not hurt during the
incident.
Ambulance Operations Manager Paul Smith said:
“Thankfully our crew members were ok, but it could have been so
much worse. It is unacceptable when our staff are targeted by the
very public they are there to serve.
“We welcome this prosecution and want to send
a strong message out that any sort of physical or verbal attacks on
our staff will not be tolerated.”
- Ends -
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