Two more paramedics have been threatened and verbally abused in the UK after a man took exception with their parking their ambulance next to his car on a residential street.
Tasha Starkey of West Midlands Ambulance Service and her colleague were responding to a 999 call from an elderly woman suffering chest pains in Sparkhill, Birmingham when the incident happened on Friday.
On Twitter, the medic said that the man was unhappy that the medics had parked their ambulance next to his vehicle. According to Starkey the medics took care not to block the road.
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The medics eventually called the police after the man became aggressive, hitting Starkey's crewmate on the arm. West Midlands Police confirmed to The Independent it had arrested the 49-year-old man on suspicion of common assault and a public order offence before cautioning and releasing him.
Starkey said she felt 'extremely disappointed, disappointed and upset' at the police's decision not to charge the man, adding the assault left her "very tired, sad and generally feeling unsupported by the lack of justice'.
The paramedic said that people who spit, assault or threaten to kill paramedics should receive an automatic jail sentence, while verbal abusers should get a fine or community service.
"I love my job but it seems the punishments are so minor when the stress and upset to us is so great," she said.
West Midlands Police Superintendent Paul Minor said the man responsible for attacking Starkey and her colleague had admitted being verbally aggressive and hitting one of the paramedics' arms.
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"The man had no previous convictions and in this case a police caution was deemed the most appropriate outcome. However, a caution is not a 'let-off' or a slap on the wrist," Minor said.
"Cautions are legitimate criminal justice outcomes, with real sanctions attached, and have long-term implications, such as notification on pre-employment checks."
The attack is only the latest in a series of attacks against paramedics in the UK and isn't even the first incident that Starkey's been involved with recently.
Last November Starkey was the first medic to share a vile note left on an WMAS ambulance while medics treated a man with internal bleeding in Small Heath, Birmingham. The man later died in hospital.
Written in capital letters, the note read: "You may be saving lives, but don't park your van in a stupid place and block my drive."
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The teacher responsible for the note, 27-year-old Hassan Shabbir, later profusely apologised for leaving the note, calling it 'a heat of the moment thing'.
Last month, 26-year-old Kirsty Sharman was fined £120 after pleading guilty to verbally abusing medics on the job near her home in Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent.
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: UK News, News, Ambulance
