Man charged after paramedic injured in southwest Calgary hit and run

A paramedic was hurt in a hit and run in the southwest Calgary community of Haysboro Tuesday night.

According to police, EMS technicians were loading a patient into an ambulance — which has lights flashing — on Hillgrove Drive S.W. at around 9 p.m.

Police said a driver “stopped for a moment and then quickly accelerated by the ambulance.” The paramedic, who hadn’t yet cleared the road, was sideswiped, police said.

The paramedic was himself taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after he finished helping his patient, CPS said.

Officers searched the area and found the vehicle parked at a nearby home. Officers arrested a man inside who matched the driver description.

Kenneth Muraweski, 69, was charged with one count of failing to stop at the scene of an accident that involved bodily harm.

CPS is reminding citizens that when emergency vehicles are stopped with lights flashing, drivers need to pass carefully.

“When emergency personnel are working close to or in a lane of traffic, drivers must follow first responders’ instructions and stop if it is not safe to pass,” police said in a news release. “When passing an emergency vehicle in the lane immediately next to it, drivers must drive no faster than 60 km/h or the speed limit, whichever is slower.”