NY man collapses and dies in front of paramedics after being kicked out of ambulance

ROCHESTER, NEW YORK: A Rochester man who was not identified died in December 2023, two weeks after being kicked out of an ambulance and onto a city street corner while having a medical emergency of difficulty in breathing.

This incident left the city’s mayor “flabbergasted” at the horrifying development.

In the nearly 12-minute video, the patient, who has not been identified, is accused of lunging at the paramedics as they transported him to the hospital on November 30, 2023.

What happened to the victim?

In the video shared by WXXI, the ambulance is seen parked on the side of a road in the city with its lights still flashing as officers arrive.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with him, but he will not get out of the truck, and he’s got to go,” an EMT tells the officer, according to bodycam footage obtained by WROC.

The medic informs the patient, "It's a wrap," as the ambulance doors open, and the crew requests that he exit the vehicle.

The man moaned and held his shoulders and chest, telling the officers that he "couldn't breathe."

“We tried to help, honey, but the way that you got in here and the way that you jumped at us is no way to ask of somebody asking for help,” the EMT interjects.

The officer then demanded that he exit the ambulance.

“I was freaking out,” the man said as he puts his coat on to exit. “You would freak out too if you can’t breathe.”

To which the officer said, “I hear you, I’d probably try to control myself a little bit better.”

He was told to wait outside the ambulance for another to arrive and take him to the hospital. "Will you take me to the hospital, man?” he pleads with the officer, who refused.

The victim collapsed on the sidewalk

Shortly after complying with the officer's instruction to exit the ambulance, the man fell to the sidewalk and remained unresponsive.

Before anyone assisted the man, he had been lying face down in front of emergency workers for more than two minutes.

The patient died two weeks later, Rochester Mayor Malik Evans said in a press conference on Thursday, January 11.

Evans added he was “flabbergasted” over how the man was treated.

He said, “We must get to the bottom of this."

He added, “We must understand how and why this occurred, and we must identify processes and safeguards to ensure that it does not happen again.

City residents are people and they deserve to be treated humanely and with the same attention as anyone else.”

The man’s official cause of death has not been disclosed. Evans said the victim’s family members shared that the man “passed away from this health emergency that he had called to get help to address.”

The ambulance provider, American Medical Response, said it would comply with Evans’ request to conduct an internal investigation.

Rochester Police Chief David Smith has also called for an internal investigation, Evans shared.

“Even though this was a medical scene, there are always lessons to be learned, particularly as it relates to what type of ambulance services or medical services our community are experiencing,” Evans said.