Posted on 01/30/2014 9:15:18 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
A 77-year-old man died after collapsing across the street from a fire station, where his daughter had asked for immediate assistance and was instead rebuffed by a firefighter who told her he couldn’t help unless dispatch instructed him to intervene.
The man, Medric Cecil Mills, collapsed near the Engine 26 fire station in the Brookland area of Washington, D.C. at about 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. His daughter, Marie Mills, went to the station to beg for immediate medical assistance. But the firefighter she encountered there told her that she had to first call 911 so that dispatch could instruct him to assist the dying man, according to The Washington Post.
“I even ran to the curb and said, ‘Are you going to help me or are you going to let my dad die?’” recalled Marie Mills in a statement to ABC 7.
Aid came too late for Mills, who passed away at the hospital, one hour later.
It is unclear how much of a delay was caused by the firefighter’s inaction. The ambulance that eventually came for Mills was first dispatched to a wrong address, 26 blocks away.
Edward C. Smith, president of the firefighters union, apologized on behalf of the department. D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray has promised that there will be an investigation into the matter.
“When you go to a fire station, you should expect that someone there is going to help you,” said Pedro Ribeiro, a spokesperson for the mayor, in a statement. “This gentleman was not served. We need to answer why he was not served.”
Ribeiro added that Mills should have been helped by the fire department, “protocol be damned.”
Today’s USA in a nutshell, “It’s not my job.”
Shows the efficiency of government bureaucracy.
The man that didn’t help is a despicable human and should be shamed for life.
what a hero.
Wasn’t in his job description or above his pay grade?
There is no outrage in the above statement; there is also no hint that the firefighter might, or should, be punished or dismissed.
and they wonder why people aren’t gung ho for more, ever-expanding government.
What can you say, Union Goons! It’s like your pilot has a heart attack and there’s a deadheading pilot in first class who says he can’t work to fly the plane because he precluded from working any more hours without rest. Just shameful.
Sounds like a really bad story for the professional responder, but I can tell you I gave up my good Samaritan first responder CPR gut credentials ages ago to to liability.
It is what it is.
Help a stranger for no pay and get sued.
There's yer answer fishbulb.
This stuff doesn't happen in flyover country.
She was breaking Union rules by making the assumption that the Firefighter’s first priority was lifesaving, when we all know, down deep, that the woman was taking the Union Dispatcher, who needs to be protected, and was taken out of the equation..
Silly girl.. Oh well, her Dad was expendable after all, but those Union jobs are not.. ugh
there are no good samaritan laws in Washington DC? That doesn’t surprise me. As an ER nurse, I can’t imagine not rendering aid in such a case. this guy should have rendered aid.
Try setting a bone on scene, try using a training idea like on the count of 3 and then doing it on 1...
Try explaining to your wife and kids why you are being sued.
Liberal’s have ruined the Good Samaritan.
They have ruined the country.
My mother called today and asked if I’d heard about this story. It turns out that the man was the former pastor of an old family friend.
It appears that there was a rookie who didn’t know what to do and a lieutenant who should have known better. Many passersby tried to help, so your assumption that this is typical behavior of the type of people who live in Brookhaven (mostly black), is incorrect. The people helped as best they could. As usual, the government let them down.
I really have no idea, I got out of being a first responder in the late 80’s because it is AFU.
Then even if it goes right you have to go home to wife and kids and pretend nothing happened in your day.
God Bless You.
You do not understand the political and legal and emotional problems these people face.
Based on my personal experience, black people are more likely to help than not.
Not if you white.
Then they sue.
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