Good thing Boston has more than one paramedic unit: Boston EMS Incidents reports that when a report of a person suffering a heart attack in the Prudential Center food court came in around 10:30 p.m., the Paramedic 1 unit stationed on Purchase Street was dispatched to the scene - but couldn't even get out of its bay due to the large traffic jam caused by protesters in Dewey Square and police blocking traffic to keep motorists from plowing into the protesters.
Dispatchers then routed Paramedic 2, based on Warren Street in Roxbury, to the mall, where firefighters and EMTs were treating the unconscious but still breathing person until the paramedics could arrive.
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Comments
Thousands of folks causing roads to be blocked by
By whyaduck
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 4:19pm
protesting is not the same as Red Sox game traffic and/or a holiday parade doing the same. Ambulances would know about the parade route and adjust accordingly and many folks park away from Fenway and do walk and/or take the T to the park.
A few weeks ago, protestors blocked I-95 in Providence; some were almost killed:
http://www.abc6.com/story/27483671/i-95-in-provide...
and preventing an ambulance from going through:
http://twitchy.com/2014/11/26/shutitdown-peaceful-...
Protest yes. Block road networks no.
Since a heart attack or a stroke is a life or death matter,
By mplo
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 1:28pm
it's of utmost importance that the victim be transported...pronto...to the closest hospital. Any type of delay, no matter what it is, can and will have deadly consequences.
Good concept
By SwirlyGrrl
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 2:02pm
Now when all those motorists decide to hold their twice-daily critical mass drives, where more of them attempt to use the roads than will fit and block ambulances, we can ask that they all be prevented from doing so because MPLO says they are going to kill someone!!!!!
You don't seem to get my point, do you, Swirlybabe.
By mplo
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 5:39pm
Quite frankly, I generally make it a point to avoid replying to your posts because you have such a nasty, foul, intolerant attitude towards people, including myself, who openly differ with what you have to say. Your smugness is rather sickening. What I'm saying is that guy with the heart attack was lucky that he didn't die. Traffic shouldn't be blocked unnecessarily, and if you think that doing so during a protest is an emergency, I disagree with you, because there are better ways to do it. Suppose a loved one, a friend or neighbor of yours had been the heart attack victim at the Pru, whom the protesters helped impede the ability of the EMT's, etc, to get to? That's something that you should probably think about.
You REALLY disgust me, SwirlyGrrl!
By mplo
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 5:52pm
Your sarcasm and your tendency to openly devalue and dehumanize people who openly differ with your opinions is rather stomach-turning, if I may say so.
Yes, a paramedic crew did get
By anon
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 3:28pm
Yes, a paramedic crew did get there. But delayed. Do some research on cRdiac arrests/minicar dial infractions before you imply it made no difference. When someone's heart stops seconds mean the difference between brain tissue death. If the medics for there without a delay the Patient could have more advanced care sooner.
I knew that sooner or later, this was going to happen!
By mplo
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 4:58am
The fact that the protestors prevented EMT's from getting to the prudential center to help transport somebody who was having a heart attack to the hospital is realy, really disgusting! Since I'm way smarter, more perceptive and more aware of things, and more able to predict things happening on the horizon that most people, including everybody on this forum, are willing to give me credit for, I saw this coming from the beginning. I hope the person who had the heart attack was able to get to a hospital and recover.
Don't the protestors realize that when someone is having a heart attack, a stroke, or some other life-threatening illness or injury, that time really IS of the essence, and that allowing the paramedics to get to such a patient is crucial? Every second of every minute counts. Preventing EmT's and ambulances from getting to a heart attack or stroke victim is dangerous, and illegal. One of these days, someone WILL lose his/her life as a consequence of such stupidity on the part of protestors. The protestors back in the 60's and 70's knew enough not to prevent ambulances or other emergency vehicles from getting through. Today's protestors don't, obviously.
I hope the cops arrest every single damned of of these protestors. They get no sympathy from me...no way!!!
Too Bad The EMTs Didn't Help Eric Garner
By BlackKat
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 8:04am
http://www.newyorker.com/news/amy-davidson/eric-ga...
"When paramedics arrived, they stood around diffidently; the officers did not convey a sense of urgency about anything except getting bystanders to walk away."
That's not even the point, BlackKat.
By mplo
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 8:08am
While Eric Garner's death at the hands of the cops was unfortunate and needless, and things like this are a national issue, there's just no excuse for protestors blocking access to hospitals and/or causing traffic jams that prevent EMT's from getting to and responding to heart attacks, strokes and other life-threatening illnesses. I stand by everything I've said here.
Freedom Zones
By BlackKat
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 9:08am
So you would prefer the method used during the DNC?
"You are free to protest, but only in this cage over here in the hinterlands, and only between the hours of 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM."
Maybe people ought to learn that with exercise one's rights
By mplo
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 11:52am
comes a responsibility. The cops didn't let the protestors block the Southeast Expressway, because shutting down a highway where people are going 50-60 miles per hour or possibly more could produce some rather macabre results, like deaths and/or serious injuries due to collisions, for example.
What's disgusting is that our whole society has deteriorated to the point where there's no accountability any more..on the part of almost everybody. No matter what somebody or other does, they're always petted and praised as a good lass or lad. It's disgusting, imho.
God, I would have hated to
By anon
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 1:01pm
God, I would have hated to see your response to the March on Washington...
Driving is a privilege
By SwirlyGrrl
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 2:05pm
Massing in public is a RIGHT.
Therefore, we should not allow private citizens to drive at rush hour or times that citizens are exercising their first amendment rights, because exercise of that driving privilege blocks the roads for emergency vehicles.
Far more logical, considering the difference between driving privilege and assembly rights.
Explain to us how intentionally
By roadman
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 7:34pm
blocking roads or standing on streetcar tracks, in order to cause deliberate disruption to others, is considered "peaceful assembly"?
Especially when it adds no meaningful value to the message the group is trying to convey.
Well, SwirllyHoney!
By mplo
Sat, 12/06/2014 - 7:49am
YOU don't seem to understand that if and when people exercise their rights, a big responsibility comes along with that. There's a line that has to be drawn, and the protestors have more than crossed that line when they've blocked access to hospitals, caused traffic jams that've delayed crucial emergency care for a heart attack victim that firefighters and even EMT's are NOT trained to administer on the spot, but require the care of a paramedic, which is somewhat more advanced, and by standing on and shutting down subway train tracks.
Inotherwords, what I'm saying is that there's a point when it's no longer free speech or exercising one's First Amendment Rights, and the protestors have gone way the hell beyond that point. For the most part, the protestors of the 1960's and the 1970's at least knew enough not to go beyond that point and cause delays in necessary medical care for people who are suddenly stricken with life-threatening illnesses such as a heart attack or a stroke while in a public venue or on the street. Today's protestors really don't seem to understand that, and neither do you, SwirlyGrrl. Or, are you just being willfully stupid and ignorant? Probably the latter.
Don't bother to reply to my posts, because i'd rather not debate with you, SwirlyGrrl! Thanks.
One more time... Fire Station
By lsewriter
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 2:38pm
One more time... Fire Station 33 is directly across the street from the scene of the medical emergency. It's full of EMTs & medical equipment. So help WAS available-- but someone failed to call them. Let's throw that person in jail, what do you say?
No, no, no
By adamg
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 3:23pm
If you read my original post (shouldn't be hard, it's not that long), you'll see that firefighters and EMTs got to the person at the Pru quickly and were taking care of him or her. It's not a question of somebody not calling 911.
The issue was whether paramedics, who have way more training than firefighters and EMTs - and can perform certain medical procedures they cannot - could get to him. Paramedics are NOT based on Boylston Street.
Google, EMT vs Paramedic.
By anon
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 3:33pm
Google, EMT vs Paramedic. Then do some good thinking, and realize a persons life can be saved if they receive earlier advanced care. Pretty ironic especially if it's due to idiots holding "we can't breathe signs". What if it was your family member dying and you knew more advanced care was delayed due to idiot protesters?
Ooops
By Rob O
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 3:40pm
I read your original comment and I thought it was actually a brilliant tongue-in-check post. But then I read down and saw you were serious....
Please step away from the keyboard sir.
By John Costello
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 8:15am
Your logic of "Someone else should suffer for something completely unrelated to what happened to Eric Garner" shows that you have Fruity Pebbles for brains.
Nuances
By BlackKat
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 8:46am
The point is the previous poster does not think any protests [exhibited by multiple posts here] are legitimate.
Such posters don't actually care about whether an EMT could respond to a call in a rapid manner. They just seek ammunition against the protests so respond to stories like this with faux outrage. They would prefer the out of sight, out of mind, method of handling large scale, social injustices.
Of course during rush hour,
By GoSoxGo
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 8:42am
parades, after sporting events, construction, etc., the EMTs are magically able to fly over the traffic and respond without any delays...
Except parades are scheduled
By anon
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 10:08am
Except parades are scheduled with routes planned in advance. Last nights nonsense left first responders reacting to everything after the fact instead of being completely prepared in advance.
a traffic jam prevented the vehicle from arriving
By jenna
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 1:39pm
the protest may have caused the traffic jam but it's not as if the protestors were riht there not letting the vehicle through
Hello 1970s and goodbye 21
By anon
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 6:44am
Hello 1970s and goodbye 21 century !
I know, right?! I thought
By anon
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 8:11am
I know, right?! I thought cops were going to stop shooting people and not be held unaccountable decades ago!
traffic jam because of ...
By Mac
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 7:56am
So not guilty, pathetic or ironic are these jams: the ordinary every day Boston traffic jam or a traffic jam caused by a truck not fitting under a bridge on Storrow or a traffic jam on Marathon Monday or ... ??
My goodness this is a headline worthy of Fox news! You might as well blame Obama.
Translation: "something tragic almost but didn't happen"
By streetprotestveteran
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 8:36am
"people could have gotten seriously hurt so we should not protest in the streets peacefully against a racist system that continues to allow the deaths of unarmed black and brown people at the hands of white uniformed police who go unpunished". . . really?
Some of the protesters in the 60s and 70s were bombing buildings, kidnapping people, and planning assassinations, by the way. Blocking the streets and staging die-ins is hardly comparable.
You think peaceful mass demonstration in the streets is harmful? Definition of "first world problem"!
Question:
By MatthewC
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 9:55am
Why aren't you activist types out en masse shouting about the horrifying murder rates in cities like Chicago, where the crimes are overwhemingly black on black? Is that not a crisis worth taking to the streets over? Is that not worth demanding that officials do something meaningful to stop the murder and violence? Or is that violence something to just shrug off?
Difference
By KSquared
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 10:03am
It's one thing to be against crime - I think everyone is against crime.
It's another to have crime perpetrated by the officials meant to protect and serve. That's more protest worthy.
Huh?
By MatthewC
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 10:48am
Is there some quick reference card you refer to when trying to figure which issue is more protest worthy? Like maybe a flow chart or something? Don't you think that children, toddlers, being gunned down in the streets and even in the "safety" of their own homes is protest worthy? Shouldn't there be scores of people tearing through cities like Chicago and Detroit demanding positive change?
Of course
By KSquared
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 10:57am
I'm pretty sure there are scores of people in Chicago and Detroit demanding positive change regarding violent crime. They do so in community meetings, and community improvement and education opportunities etc. etc.
When you have an agent of the government committing violent crime, then you have a bit of a problem because they are the people in charge, so protests draw attention to that problem and perhaps (hopefully) get some change going.
More than scores...
By Michael Kerpan
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 11:07am
http://abc7chicago.com/news/cps-students-lead-anti...
Apparently...
By MatthewC
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 11:07am
...their town hall meetings aren't working. If the police descended on the cities I mentioned and began to clean house, no doubt these protesters would take to the streets chanting about police brutality. My conclusion? They think that crime is just fine as long as it is "a bunch of idiots" running around shooting each other. When there is even a hint that a cop might have engaged in illegal behavior... Well then, that's the real issue, and therefore all cops are murderers (according to them).
Oh right
By KSquared
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 11:43am
Cause you can change the underlying multitude of problems that promote crime in a week. My bad.
I can guarantee that most will say that crime is not fine, that crime should be lower, that families should deserve to stay together and not be ripped apart by violence. So your assumption that high-crime communities think crime is great is pretty misguided.
What part of "cops are not above the law" don't you understand?
I never said...
By MatthewC
Sun, 12/07/2014 - 9:10am
...cops are above the law. Just out of curiosity, how much law enforcement experience do you have?
Black people DO tell other black people not to kill black people
By anon
Sat, 12/06/2014 - 6:55pm
If you were black, I guarantee someone would have told you by now "killing your fellow African Americans is terrible, don't do it". You're not hearing that message because you're not black, plain as that. If you actually cared about what they are doing amongst themselves, you'd know about things like "the interrupters" and the gang truce in LA in the 90s and the many marches and rallies that people to spread a message of non-violence in their own community. You don't know because you don't care to.
Do you talk to many Black people?
By eekanotloggedin
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 10:06am
Several times I week I have a neighbor or kid's friend's parent talk to me on my porch or send me something via social media about initiatives in our own communities to strengthen schools, provide career opportunities, help Black children stay in school and succeed, provide affordable housing, and so forth. People are pretty dang involved in strengthening our own communities. The one thing that the Black community can't singlehandedly eliminate though is the systemic racism that causes our children to have less opportunities and be more likely to become involved in gangs and so forth. Or, you know, be killed by a cop.
What are you doing about the 83% of white homicides that are committed by white people? You really need to be stepping up and working on white-on-white crime.
do you live in Roxbury, Eeka?
By JPHipster
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 7:38pm
do you live in Roxbury, Eeka?
Very different
By zetag
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 10:06am
This was about protesting the abuse of power by those who are paid to serve and protect us.
In Chicago you have a bunch of idiots running around shooting each other, and there are many peace rallies there. You prove yourself to be more ignorant every single time you post something.
Bunch of idiots?
By relaxyapsycho
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 10:33am
That's racist!
Oh really?
By MatthewC
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 10:42am
So the three year old who was shot in the face, and 12 year old Samuel Walker are just idiots to you. That's lovely. You prove my point. These activist types are more concerned about an opportunity to foam and the mouth about "racism" than they are about fighting back against a real issue. You don't care about blacks killing blacks. Never have. They are just a convenient opportunity to lash out. Period.
Really
By zetag
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 11:06am
So 7 year old Aiyana Stanley-Jones who was shot and killed by a cop while sleeping on her couch, or the 19 month old who was burned by a stun grenade thrown by cops while sleeping in his crib aren't worth protesting over? There's no problem here, correct?
As i said before, there are many rallies in Chicago related to the violence there. And yes, those who are running around shooting people are idiots, i never said anything about innocent bystanders. If you don't see the difference you are clearly ignorant.
But you initially failed to mention...
By MatthewC
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 11:09am
...the innocent bystanders. You lumped everyone together with your knee jerk response. I'm glad you finally decided to recognize them.
HAHA
By zetag
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 11:20am
re-read your prior posts with sweeping generalizations, you're as dumb as they come broski.
The straws that racists grasp
By Noahh
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 10:08am
The straws that racists grasp at to discredit these protestors are remarkable.
What exactly was racist about
By JPHipster
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 10:33am
What exactly was racist about what he said? To throw out a racism charge just because someone disagrees with you makes you, and any point you attempt to make, look foolish. There is plenty of real racism that can be highlighted. Don't make stuff up.
An expected response...
By MatthewC
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 10:45am
I put a real issue at your feet and you immediately resport to calling me a racist. Laughable. It's really all you have to go on. Obviously you have proven my point since you completely disregarded my post.
The fact is that folks like
By Noahh
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 12:17pm
The fact is that folks like you, who opine on "black on black crime" whenever the issue of police brutality comes up, are demonstrating the sort of coded racism that has become so prevalent. Here is why these claims, as well as you, are being racist:
1. You're erasing the very real issues that the black activists, organizers, and protestors are engaging by trying to derail the conversation and minimizing their efforts.
2. You're implying that these protestors do not care about violence in their communities, which is patently untrue. There are countless organizations in places like Chicago doing the very work you're deriding the protestors for not doing (and furthermore, you fail to consider the possibility that these two groups often overlap, which they do)
3. You're presenting "black-on-black" crime as a unique, special issue, thus demonstrating ignorance of the fact that the vast majority of crime is intraracial because, surprise surprise, most crime occurs locally within communities.
But no, please go out out and tell the thousands and thousands of protestors what the REAL issues are because clearly you are an authority on the political reality of their lives.
One thing Noah with point #3
By Pete Nice
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 12:29pm
Are you saying urban black on black crime is not a special, unique issue?
I would say it is.
(Somewhat agree with your point 1 and 2)
It wasn't specified
By Noahh
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 1:14pm
Urban crime in black communities was not specified so I did not address it. But urban crime in any community, regardless of race, merits consideration. It's presenting urban crime, an already very vague premise, as a uniquely black pathology that is problematic. There has been a swell of research and articles the past 6 months that address this issue in context of the charges of "black on black crime"; this older article is particularly good.
Next time you are in a traffic jam
By SwirlyGrrl
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 1:57pm
And an Ambulance is trying to get through, are you going to throw the same sort of tantrums over people using their driving privileges when there is no room on the road for them to be there that you are currently throwing over people exercising their first amendment rights?
We don't have control over
By lsewriter
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 2:45pm
We don't have control over civilian murder rates. But when killings are perpetrated IN OUR NAMES by people WHOM WE PAY, we have not only the right but the duty to speak up.
Dear protestors, Karma's a
By anon
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 11:09am
Dear protestors, Karma's a bitch. Blocking access to emergency medical care is reprehensible. If you really think that black lives matter, then why don't you do some community service work in Mattapan, Roxbury, Dorchester. Have you even ever stepped foot in those neighborhoods? Can you find them on a map? March in those communities and show support where the people you supposedly care about actually live! Oh right, it's easier to stop by the Starbucks on Boylston St. first, yes I saw you there in line, and then continue to a children's holiday event. Nice and safe at Starbucks in the Back Bay and then how convenient to saunter toward the pretty lights at the Boston Common with those wonderful performances by talented black artists that you tried to drown out with your black lives matter chants. Apparently black singers and dancers don't matter to you though. All the while the police were there to protect you while you crashed a holiday tradition for children. Too scary to march down Blue Hill Ave. though, right? Have any of you done a day's worth of community service in your life? I doubt it. If you want to make a difference, start at the source, not the cozy tourists spots where you can pop in for your latte if you're a tad chilly in the middle of disrupting Canadian-sponsored holiday events for families. Oh, and that bit about not knowing how to get on the Zakim bridge... classic! Stay in school, kids!
The people making a difference aren't blocking highways, they're working in those very communities that you wouldn't dare go near. Reality check!
And you know this how?
By adamg
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 5:23pm
Do you know any of the protesters who marched last night? Do you know what else they have going on in their lives, what other causes they might be involved in?
I doubt it.
But, OK, I'm sure you're a regular at Ali's Roti on Blue Hill Avenue and do regular do-gooder stuff with volunteer efforts in Roxbury. Right?
Oh Adam. Give it a rest
By anon
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 10:43pm
Oh Adam. Give it a rest please. This is really getting out of hand. If people want to protest go ahead and protest peacefully . Stop blocking traffic and leave children out of the battle unless they are your own. If half of these protesters volunteered in our inner city instead of playing dead on the street for the past few nights city Boston would be a better place.
Amen!
By anon
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 11:44pm
Best comment in the entire thread! Can't we all just get along? Happy Holidays ! Be kind to one another. It is contagious.
The rally after the Mike Brown decision was in Roxbury
By anon
Sat, 12/06/2014 - 7:12pm
and I saw tons of my fellow white people out there. You can say the words "You weenies are too pussy to actually go to the actual ghetto" but you don't actually know wtf you're talking about. My first home was Dot, I go all over the city and frankly I'm more intimidated by white ghettos like Charlestown and Southie than I am in Roxbury or whatever. I've been assaulted by police a few times, never by any of the many many black people that I've shared space with all my life. You think I don't know what racism is? I punched a black friend of mine in elementary school right in the head and the teachers made HIM apologize to ME. My nephew bares a passing resemblance to that 12 year old the cops shot without warning in the park because he was holding a bb gun, and I do not want to lose him because cops are paranoid of black people and "he grabbed at his waste band" is a get-out-of-jail-free card for cops.
Thank goodness
By Kaz
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 11:20am
I thought they might have been kept from responding by just a normal traffic jam. Then we could have upset Markk over our discussion of all the people driving around the area being the cause of someone's death because they blocked the paramedics from having a clear street to drive on.
Also, nice of you to point out, Adam, that firefighters were on the scene first (as they almost always are) and were providing medical attention to the person until EMTs could arrive. So, at no point was the person in any imminent danger...but hey, let's not distract from the simplification of getting mad at the protesters for the backup ambulance being the one to roll.
You know how it would have gone
By BlackKat
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 12:01pm
Of course you know that said person would not blame the cars but the width of the sidewalks which if eliminated entirely would add travel lanes to reduce congestion. Also if the person having a heart attack was wearing a flourescent vest he might not have had the attack.
Where did you hear that
By anon
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 3:40pm
Where did you hear that firefighters are usually first on scene for medical calls? Where do you get your facts? Why do you think there is Boston ems and Boston fire dept? Two seperate entities? And also, most firefighters are also EMTS. The more advanced care of paramedics vs EMTS was delayed. Which could have made a difference between life and death, if you knew anything about this field of work. If your family member had did bcause of a delay of more advanced care due to protester idiots how would you feel???
I read and learn things
By Kaz
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 4:54pm
There was a Globe article about 2 years ago I think it was that discussed why we still have Fire AND EMS instead of Fire/EMS like many other cities have done to save costs. It talked about how having a Fire Department that only deals with fires is extremely wasteful these days because fires are less frequent now more than ever and instead of sitting on their hands, we train them as EMTs and send them on medical calls because they are better distributed in the city than EMS and can arrive faster/first nearly every time.
I followed that up by reading the twitter feed that Adam quoted for this article and it said specifically that fire staff on site with the patient said he was stable with a pulse but unconscious while EMS was reassigning P2 instead of P1 to respond. So, they were monitoring his vitals and condition while waiting for EMS to arrive for transport and "better care". He was unconscious but breathing, so they didn't need to intubate.
Yes, paramedics can do doctorly things a firefighter EMS can't. But that isn't always necessary. If this was your canary in the coal mine for a protest creating a life-or-death situation it fails in that the person wasn't quickly approaching death fortunately in the extra 3-5 minutes it took for P2 to take over for P1. I'd love to know the call time. I found the 2011 goal for a Priority-1 response for Boston EMS was 6 minutes, Priority-2 was 7 minutes. I'm betting this was pretty close given the twitter timeline regardless of the switch of EMS (and from what I can tell they changed it from P1 to P2 due to the fact that they were stable, just unconscious).
But by all means pretend they nearly died so you can keep blaming the protest for "nearly killing someone". It's a convenient narrative if you just want to make protests go away.
i was there
By jenna
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 1:33pm
I was at the protests for most of the night. It's horrible that traffic jam caused EMS not to be able to respond. However, this traffic jam situation must have been backed up very far away from protestors. all vehicles and people were allowed through including medics to treat a protestor at one point. Police also created traffic jam by blocking access to particular roads. It is a sad situation but my point is that it could have been caused by anything, including a car accident. all emergency vehicles trying to pass through protestors directly were allowed easy access through. Saying its the protestors fault is like saying its the fault of the guy whose tire exploded on the highway and caused the delay in response.
People absolutely have a
By JPHipster
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 4:30pm
People absolutely have a right to protest, but the police blocked diverted traffic to avoid gridlock and keep the protestors from getting run over. And the guy whose tire blows on the highway is not staging a die in and laying down in the middle of the mass turnpike.
I disagree, jenna.
By mplo
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 5:23pm
This;
is something that I do disagree with, because it was the fault of the protestors, as well as the cops. If the cops had handled it only by closing off specific streets to motor vehicular traffic, thereby creating a special route for the protestors to march along, and re-routed the traffic around it, and had the protestors not been stupid enough to try to shut down the Southeast Expressway, all that crap could've been avoided, imho. The protesters, as far as I'm concerned, brought this on themselves.
Why are you protesting
By anon
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 3:43pm
More than 98% of the idiots protesting have never had a incident with the police which makes this protest a joke. They are all a bunch of sheep. I tell you what, if you are blocking an intersection I'm trying to get through unless there's a red light I will run your worthless asses over. Go back to your schools the 60's and 70's are over, so take your protests and stick them where the sun don't shine!!
So frickin' what?
By adamg
Fri, 12/05/2014 - 3:48pm
The white folks who marched in the 1960s had never experienced the sort of discrimination and violence the blacks with whom they marched were experiencing on a daily basis.
The fact that you're unable to experience the least shred of empathy for others suggests it's maybe a good thing you don't go out in public much.
Question:
By MatthewC
Sun, 12/07/2014 - 2:58pm
Why do you snap back at your readers like that? If anything, I feel like you have a responsibility to moderate rather than fire back at people.
Other factors unknown
By Camberville reader
Sun, 12/07/2014 - 1:11pm
If the victim was breathing and had an unobstructed airway, with major EDs within a mile distance, do EMS EMT units have the ability to load and go? Do EMTs have cardiac monitors - if so, did the victim have a stable rhythm? A detectable BP?
Do we know this was a cardiac event and not an OD or other type of problem?
Was this EMT crew squawking to a hospital?
In many other cities - and especially in more rural areas where there is no redundancy, if even basic services, a first responder - police, fire, EMT - would package a breathing person and hie thee post haste.
It's great to have paramedics, but in this case as presented (lots if missing info), I'm puzzled as to the decision to keep on scene and wait.
Second question is why BPD didn't facilitate the garaged medic unit to a point of unobstructed egress before the protesters arrived. Having participated in citywide mass casualty preps, having responders obstructed/delayed is a routine part of the planning, and the response is to facilitate their redeployment. Wonder why that didn't happen here...
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