Two men have been arrested and riot police called in following an incident in the King Street Wharf area of Sydney, in which a paramedic was assaulted while trying to render assistance to an unconscious woman at a bar.
NSW Police say that officers attended the venue at around 12.15am after paramedics called them for urgent assistance. The medics were treating the unconscious woman, believed to be aged in her 20s, when the crowd around her turned hostile:
Officers found group of people with the woman had become agitated and aggressive, threatening the paramedics, with one man allegedly pushing one of the paramedics. Police were forced to provide a physical escort of the paramedics and patient to the ambulance, due to the behaviour of the crowd.
The Public Order and Riot Squad (PORS) crews were called to assist at the scene with the crowd. They have also been deployed to St Vincent’s Hospital.
One man has been taken into custody over the alleged assault, while another was arrested for hindering police. The woman remains in St Vincent’s Hospital in unknown condition, and officers are trying to establish the circumstances of her collapse.
The union representing paramedic officers in NSW has slammed the attack as “cowardly”, saying that ambulance officers may need to start wearing body cameras in order to deter people from attacking them while they are at work.
Union secretary Gerard Hayes said:
“While there have been more paramedics employed in recent times you can’t prevent cowardice from drunk idiots. We need a mass education program rolled out but we also need to consider introducing self-activated cameras as a deterrent measure.”
