Sandy MaloneBronx, NY – A 20-year-old emergency medical technician (EMT) was beaten and stomped on Friday night by a handcuffed prisoner who escaped his restraints in the back of an ambulance.
The incident occurred at about 10:40 p.m. on Oct. 18 as 32-year-old Thomas Wright was being transported Lincoln Medical Center, the New York Daily News reported.
Authorities said the inebriated suspect broke the seatbelt restraint on the gurney, bit the EMT on the shoulder, and knocked the first responder to the ground.
Sources told the New York Daily News that the handcuffed suspect stomped repeatedly on the EMT as he lay on the floor of the ambulance.
There was also a police officer in the back of the ambulance and he was able to take control of the situation and subdue the suspect before they got to the hospital.
The EMT, who recently graduated from the academy, sustained serious injuries and was admitted to the hospital, the New York Daily News reported.
“He’s in pretty bad shape,” a source told the publication.
Wright was charged with assault, attempted assault, and harassment, the New York Daily News reported.
Bronx Assistant District Attorney Ryan Foley said at Wright’s arraignment that the EMT victim had suffered nerve damage and a loss of sensation in one of his arms.
Foley also said the EMT will miss several months of work as a result of the attack, the New York Daily News reported.
If convicted, Wright is facing up to seven years in prison because of law passed in 2018 that increases penalties for assaults on first responders.
“My client was not well. He was upset. He did not have criminal intent,” Legal Aid Society attorney Laurence Gurwitch told the court.
Wright is being held on $20,000 bond or $15,000 cash, the New York Daily News reported.