Another ambo hospitalised after alleged attack by wedding drunk

Even as ambulance officers and the public are reeling from the light punishment handed down to two women who an assaulted emergency services crew, another paramedic has been injured in an attack by a patient.

A Melbourne man, Wishwan Seetloo, allegedly spat at members of an ambulance team, then attempted to or actually punched one paramedic (reports are unclear), when they tried to rouse him after he passed out at a wedding celebration.

Seetloo’s relatives had called an ambulance after the 22-year-old became unconscious and started frothing at the mouth. But according to Ten Eyewitness News, Seetloo became aggressive while being attended to by the ambulance officers, punching one in the face and thrashing around on a stretcher, causing the stretcher to topple, with the officer trying to catch both the stretcher and Seetloo on it. The weight of the stretcher with the patient on it was thrown onto the paramedic, causing him face and back injuries.

Seetloo last night apologised on a Ten news broadcast, saying he had no memory of attacking the 44-year-old ambo, who was treated for his injuries in hospital and has reportedly since been released. Seetloo, who Ten said was in an “alcohol-fuelled rage” at the time, said, “I’d like to apologise because I don’t want this thing happening to anyone else … I wasn’t conscious, I don’t know what I was doing”.

A man who bashed a paramedic during an alcohol fuelled rage has apologised to his victim. #TenNews @CandiceWyatt10 pic.twitter.com/O2mAH4qT82

— 10 News First Melbourne (@10NewsFirstMelb) May 17, 2018

But Danny Hill of the Ambulance Employees Ao told the news channel that “it’s just not good enough to say it was a drunken accident”. “If someone gets drunk and gets behind the wheel, they’ll lose their licence and so they should,” Hill said. “If someone gets drunk and accidentally assaults a paramedic, they deserve to go to jail, no question about it.”

The incident comes just two days after Amanda Warren and Caris Underwood avoided jail after being found guilty of an assault on Victorian paramedic Paul Judd in Melbourne in 2017. The women, who also attacked Judd’s partner Chenaye Bentley, had been convicted last year and were sentenced to six and four months in prison respectively but escaped jail on appeal, reportedly because the judge took into account the women’s difficult childhoods, drug, alcohol and mental health problems and young families.

Read more: Paramedic, 63, ‘breaks down’ as two women who assaulted him spared jail

The judge was reportedly using a special circumstances cause in the Victorian law that says anyone who intentionally injures an emergency worker must face at least six months in prison. The decision caused outcry across Australia, with ambos painting their vehicles with signs calling attention to what they believed was lenient sentencing.

Ambulance Victoria CEO Tony Walker said the service was extremely disappointed that the courts had missed an opportunity to send a strong message to the community about violence against paramedics.

https://www.facebook.com/AmbulanceVictoria/posts/2174511685909264

Victoria’s opposition leader Matthew Guy reportedly announced on Thursday that he would introduce a private member’s bill next week that would be designed to reduce the number of special circumstances people can cite to avoid the mandatory six-month sentence.

At present, offenders can use the fact that their actions were influenced by drugs or alcohol as an argument for reducing their sentence, The Age reported. The special circumstance of having a mental illness, however, is expected to remain in place, the newspaper said.

What do you think is a fair sentence for someone who assaults an emergency services worker? Should the same sentence apply to people who assault teachers and other public service staff?