Brickbat: Take Your Medicine

Muhammad Annurmal / Dreamstime.com

Dunwoody, Georgia, police arrested EMT Deannah Williams for repeatedly striking a 17-year-old boy who was handcuffed behind his back, wearing leg shackles and lying on a stretcher in the back of an ambulance. The boy was being taken to a hospital for an evaluation, and Williams was trying to put a spit mask on him when he spit on her. She responded by attacking him and had to be pulled off by police.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Someone found out the blue wall only extends so far.

[Incredulous]

While I wouldn't typically condone hitting a patient, he did assault her first by spitting on her. Is that somehow ok? Are medical personnel fair game for assaults by patients? Unfortunately, that seems to be the default assumption but that's horribly wrong. Why didn't police arrest the patient who assaulted her first?

[Harvard]

Why didn't she cut off his dick?

[Incredulous]

That escalated quickly, lol. Maybe retaliating proportionately is reasonable - so maybe spitting back at him? Or maybe better, why don't they start charging these asshole patients for assaulting medical personnel. She probably responded out of frustration after numerous assaults on her that went uncharged and unpunished.

[crufus]

"Why didn't police arrest the patient who assaulted her first?"

Since he was handcuffed behind his back and wearing leg shackles he was probably already under arrest.

[Incredulous]

Good point although I doubt they kept him under arrest and took him to jail. I hope they did and charged him felonious assault of the EMT but I doubt it.

[Agammamon]

?

Spitting on someone is not 'felonious assault'. Why would they charge him for that.

Also, in your previous post you talk about 'proportional' retribution. Which would have been to smack the kid back. It wouldn't be to go berserk and need to be pulled off by the cops on scene.

[Agammamon]

In addition, when someone is in your care, tied down and restrained, you simply don't get to hit back except to defend yourself. Period. No exceptions. The health and safety of that person is now your responsibility until you free them.

[Fuck you, Shikha (Nunya)]

Spit on a cop and see if it is felonious.

[An Owl Named Dur]

"Why didn't police arrest the patient who assaulted her first?" Uhm, perhaps because he was ALREADY UNDER ARREST.

[Shirley Knott]

For what was he being evaluated?
Why was he cuffed and restrained?
There seems to be a lot of back story missing here.

But yes, why was the young man not arrested for / charged with assault?

Everything about this is fucked, there are no good guys here (based on the limited information provided in the link).

[MatthewSlyfield]

"Why was he cuffed and restrained?"

"But yes, why was the young man not arrested for / charged with assault?"

1. Clearly he was already under arrest for something.
2. As for being charged with assault, there is nothing in either the OP or the linked article that indicates that he wasn't/won't be.

[Shirley Knott]

"Being taken to a hospital for evaluation" is 'clearly under arrest'?
Not sure that cuffing only happens post-arrest.

As to point 2, bfd. The EMT has already been fired, but no word on the status of the boy?
Sure, he may yet be arrested / charged, but in the truest sense of the phrase, so might we all.

As it stands, this looks to me to be more by way of gossip than news. Poorly reported gossip at that.

[MatthewSlyfield]

"Not sure that cuffing only happens post-arrest."

Technically, it may happen before someone is "officially" arrested, but generally, they don't do it unless they intend to arrest the subject immediately after. And he wasn't just in handcuffs, they had him in leg restraints as well.

Being taken to a hospital for evaluation is not in any way shape or form incompatible with being under arrest.

[Longtobefree]

You actually expect someone to WORK by doing research and calling people and asking questions and all of that?
The revenue comes from clicks, s once the headline is written, only the clicks matter. Silly and extraneous data like reasons and motivations just don't matter.

Welcome to the web.

[Incredulous]

Yes, but there isn't anything in the OP or linked article indicating that he will be. He should have been immediately charged and this should have been included in the news article.

Based on the information in the article, she clearly greatly overreacted and shouldn't continue to be an EMT. But she was assaulted and I suspect she might not have retaliated if she knew her assailant would be held accountable for his actions. The police who were interviewed said something about him being "a child" as if that is relevant when a 17 year old assaults you. So I doubt they will charge him. And both parents were interviewed and seemed to have no problem with their son spitting on an EMT. The father even said "He's a child.. no human being deserves that." Well, I don't think a human being deserves to be spit on.

[crufus]

She is clearly ready for a change of career.

She likes beating people who are handcuffed, so maybe a career in law enforcement would be a better fit. Plus she wouldn't have to worry about being arrested for battery.

[Rich]

"If you don't like people spitting on you then quit," the officer said.

"I myself love it, but several of my ex-colleagues left the force for just that reason."

[IceTrey]

How is this any different than what cops do all the time? Oh right she's not a cop.