Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone
A man who leaped out of the back of a moving FDNY ambulance is now suing the city, FDNY and EMS personnel for his injuries.
Yaugeni Kralkin, 54, claims that EMS personnel did not do enough to restrain him last June when he was being transported to the hospital. Kralkin, a long-haul trucker, had family problems and had been drinking heavily. According to the complaint, EMS personnel found him “sitting on the ground, uninjured, with unsteady gait. They needed police assistance to get Kralkin into the back of the ambulance because he was uncooperative.
During the transport Kralkin was somehow able to “unbuckle his straps on the stretcher, open the door of the ambulance and jump out of the moving ambulance . . . [He] landed on the concrete of Richmond Avenue”, sustaining severe injuries.
Kralkin’s attorney, Borislav Chernyy, was quoted by the NY Post as saying:
- “At least you could have stopped him”
- “I think it was a poor choice for him to consume that much alcohol, but as human beings we make poor choices.”
- “They failed to care for him, because he was in no state to have any motor skills or make any decisions.”
The suit was filed in Staten Island Supreme Court naming the city, FDNY, and the EMTs as defendants. More on the story.
