The family of a Winnipeg restaurateur who died after an incident outside his bar and eatery is calling for an inquiry into his death.
Mike Vogiatzakis, whose brother Kyriakos died after a Jan. 24 altercation at the Cork and Flame on Portage Avenue, said his family was failed by the city’s emergency services that day.
Vogiatzakis told media Tuesday morning that he doesn’t want to see other Winnipeg families go through a similar situation, blaming errors in the emergency response from both police and paramedics for making an already awful situation even worse.
“911 failed our family miserably,” he said at a press conference from the west Winnipeg business.
“911 was called at 5:30 in the evening. The first police car showed up at 5:46, the second police car at 5:48, a fire truck at 5:49. The ambulance showed up at 5:55. My brother was on the street for 25 minutes without care.”
Vogiatzakis said the exact timing was determined by reviewing surveillance footage of the incident, which remains under investigation.
When the ambulance arrived, he said, their defibrillator was not working, further slowing down an already tense situation. Although the fire truck arrived before the ambulance, he said they weren’t carrying a similar device of their own.
“Shouldn’t 911 check their equipment before they leave the station, to make sure they’re able to do their job?”
In an email to Global News, a public information officer for the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service said the initial 9-1-1 call was transferred to them at 5:37 p.m. WFPS says a firefighter-paramedic in a fire engine arrived shortly after and had to wait for police to secure the scene, getting clearance at 5:49 p.m.
“… on any call when there is the potential for violence or unknown dangers, WFPS members need to wait for WPS to secure the scene,” WFPS said in an email.
The WFPS also say all equipment used at the scene that day was operating correctly.
Kyriakos, 51, was also taken to Health Sciences Centre’s emergency room despite the Grace Hospital being mere blocks away, his brother said.
In an email to Global News, Shared Health said Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre is “the primary destination for transport of patients with major trauma… as well as other severe injuries or illness where highly specialized personnel and equipment available at our facility are likely to be required in the patient’s care/treatment plan.”
Two days after the incident, police arrested a 38-year-old man and charged him with manslaughter in connection with the incident.
Vogiatzakis is also calling for changes to Manitoba’s justice system, and suggested the accused in this case was part of a ‘rotating-door’ problem in the way criminals are treated in this province.
“When is this going to stop? When are we going to make our city a safe place?
“This is a system that’s failing us… why would people stop committing crimes if the justice system just lets them out.”
The Winnipeg Police Service said they could not provide comment as the matter is before the courts.