ESTCOURT KZN: Paramedics stopped and threatened by ‘drunken’ restaurant patrons
“They prevented us from proceeding to the hospital. They started hurling vulgarities and telling us to ‘voetsek’”
With the grief of their colleague’s murder fresh in their minds, local paramedics were shaken when they encountered a rowdy and allegedly drunken crowd in Harding Street at about midnight on November 20.
READ: Female paramedic killed during shooting in Mimosadale
A paramedic, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the crew had been returning from Cornfields with an emergency and on their way to Estcourt Hospital when the road in Harding Street was blocked by a group of people.
“They prevented us from proceeding to the hospital. They started hurling vulgarities and telling us to ‘voetsek’,” said the local paramedic.
The group then surrounded the ambulance vehicle and started to get hands-on.
“One person opened the left door, threatening to take my cell phone. A lady went in front of the ambulance, displaying her buttocks. Another man started smacking the bonnet, while threatening to throw a beer bottle onto the windscreen,” related the paramedic.
This ordeal lasted for about five minutes.
“A man came to our rescue and allowed us through,” said the paramedic.
This incident has terrified the paramedic team as it comes less than two months after Intermediate Life Support paramedic Phumzile Dlamini was shot and killed in the line of duty in Mimosadale.
READ MORE: Slain paramedic was a dedicated worker and mother
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