NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – A patient ripped off his clothes and tried to steal an FDNY ambulance in the Bronx this week before he was thwarted by EMS workers and a safety device installed in ambulances after the 2017 murder of an EMT, officials said Friday.
"This does shake you up," Oren Barzilay, president of the FDNY EMS Local 2507 union, told 1010 WINS. "Things rapidly get dangerous—with one wrong move, you could be dead."
The chaotic encounter happened Tuesday night at 1770 Townsend Ave. in the Morris Heights section, the FDNY said.
EMS members were on another call when they were flagged to evaluate the man, who became combative and gained access to the driver's side of the ambulance, according to the FDNY.
"One of the crew members stepped outside to take a look and to assess the situation, and as the crew approached him, the man got up started taking his clothes off and jumped in the front of the cabin," Barzilay said.
"The man got aggressive and started fighting with them and tried to put the vehicle in drive," he said.
The man repeatedly tried to put the vehicle in gear—but he was unable to because of a safety mechanism that was installed in ambulances after the March 2017 murder of EMT Yadira Arroyo, who was run over by a man who'd commandeered her ambulance in the Bronx.
EMS members ultimately restrained the man, who was hospitalized at BronxCare Health System. It wasn't immediately clear if he'd been charged by police. The EMS members weren't injured, according to the FDNY.
Just last week, Mayor Eric Adams signed two pieces of legislation—one requiring the city to provide body armor to all FDNY EMTs and paramedics and another that provides de-escalation and self-defense training for them.
Barzilay said he's grateful for the new laws but said there also needs to be an extra person in the back of ambulances to ensure the safety of those working on patients.
He said he's asking City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams to help change the law so that "EMTs or paramedics will never be left alone in the back of an ambulance."
"Because once the ambulance starts transporting to the hospital, they are alone in the back of that ambulance," he said.