A man is facing criminal charges after three paramedics were assaulted while treating an apparent drug overdose, Calgary police said Thursday.
“We believe it was a heroin overdose,” Staff Sgt. Peter Siegenthaler said. “EMS initially attended to check on him. A family member called us.”
It happened in the 3900 block of Stanley Road S.W. at around 8 a.m.
According to EMS, at some point, the patient became violent and a physical altercation occurred which resulted in all three paramedics suffering soft tissue injures. All three were taken to hospital for follow-up care. Police said one suffered a broken finger.
Police were called in and used a megaphone to speak to the suspect from outside the home, asking him to come outside. The tactical unit, K9 unit, negotiators and patrol officers tried to communicate with him but were unsuccessful at first.
“We used our bullhorn—you probably heard that,” Siegenthaler told reporters. “We tried to establish a line of communication because of course we don’t just want to send in responders and confront a person so we always try to call them to us. We didn’t make any contact… so the next step was we send in our robotics.”
Area residents were startled by the commotion caused by dozens of police officers in the southwest neighbourhood.
“It was really scary because they had guns—like big guns,” next-door neighbour Ariel told Global News.
Police said the man was found at around noon, lying in a bed, covered in a blanket. He was taken to hospital for treatment related to a possible overdose.
Police said the situation never posed any danger to the public. They said they’d been to the home before.
No weapons or drugs were found in the residence.
“He’s facing several counts of assault, assault causing bodily harm and forcible confinement,” Siegenthaler said.
In a news release, EMS spokesperson Adam Loria said the injured paramedics remain in hospital, but are in “good spirits.”
“Our thoughts are with them and their families.”
Loria said paramedics are trained to protect themselves in situations where they feel their safety is at risk.
“Incidents like this are reminder of the unique risks our practitioners face every day providing care across Alberta.”
All three paramedics will be offered debriefing and counselling services.
Police said the investigation is ongoing and such incidents happen “frequently” for first responders.
“A medical distress call can easily turn into a struggle,” Siegenthaler said.
“We try to de-escalate it at any point, but it happens more often than we think that emergency personnel, fire, police and EMS get assaulted. That does happen.”
With files from Mia Sosiak