A 29-year old man has been sentenced to 12 months in prison, and was ordered to pay a £156 surcharge, after becoming aggressive towards two paramedics and punching one of them.
Luke Wilson, of West Street, Scunthorpe, pleaded guilty to two counts of Assault of an Emergency Worker at Grimsby Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, 8 October 2020.
Wilson also pleaded guilty to the following charge of possessing a bladed article in a public area.
The ambulance was called to a children’s play area in Scunthorpe on Wednesday 12 August, after a group of concerned children spotted Wilson lying in the play area.
Wilson became aggressive after the two paramedics arrived at the scene and helped him to get up onto his feet. The two emergency workers started to back away from Wilson as he started to swing his arms towards them and began to shout abuse. He also punched one of the paramedics in the wrist when they tried to use their radio to request back-up.
EMAS Paramedic, Kevin Martin, who was responding with his colleague from Scunthorpe Ambulance Station, said: “When we arrived at the scene we could tell that the man was conscious and breathing but it looked like he was intoxicated so we proceeded with caution.
“I am glad that these young children who phoned for an ambulance had decided not to approach this man as I dread to think how he would have behaved given the way he reacted to us.
“When we returned to the ambulance I pushed the ‘red button’ which sends out an alert to all my colleagues in the area that we were in distress and needed immediate help.
“We could not continue to respond to other patients who may have needed us while we were dealing with this patient’s violent behaviour and then because we needed to help the police with their enquiries.”
“I have worked for the ambulance service for just under 30 years and this is the second time I have experienced a serious assault like this in only a matter of months.”
A few months prior to this incident, another patient had pulled out a machete on Kevin and threatened him.
Kelvin Langford, Local Security Management Specialist at EMAS, said: “Assaults on our staff are absolutely unacceptable and we take a zero-tolerance approach towards anyone who verbally or physically assaults them.
“Our frontline colleagues, as well as our team in our 999-control room, are here to help people, not to be assaulted, and they deserve to be treated with respect.
“We will continue to support any of our colleagues who are assaulted on the frontline while trying to help others and to work with the police and the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute those who abuse our colleagues.”