Two FDNY EMTs who had to intervene to stop four police officers beating a handcuffed patient on a stretcher have turned the cops in to authorities, the Daily News has learned.
The emotionally disturbed patient was punched multiple times in the face by the cops on July 20, according to FDNY documents obtained by The News. The cops only stopped when the EMTs bodily intervened, the report said.
The violence broke out when the patient spit at the Emergency Service Unit officers and swore at them. The officers responded by hitting him in the face, hauling him off the stretcher to the ground and then tossing him back on the stretcher, the EMTs said in written statements submitted to the FDNY.
The two FDNY emergency medical technicians were called to Brooklyn’s 67th Precinct stationhouse between Rogers and Nostrand Aves. in East Flatbush around 7:30 p.m. to bring the patient to a nearby hospital.
ESU arrived to restrain the man for transport. He was combative and banging his head against the wall, reports said.
“Pt. came out of the cell in cuffs. Pt. became combative with PD and (was) put on our stretcher,” wrote one EMT in the Unusual Occurrence Report filed with FDNY brass.
“Pt. was struck in the face by an officer … pt. spit in the face of an officer, whereupon the officer punched the pt. in the face multiple times,” the report said.
When the patient spit at the cop again, more cops started beating him, the EMT said.
“Three cops began to punch the patient in the face, EMS (had) to get in the middle of it to intervene. Pt’s. wounds and injuries cleaned in the (ambulance),” the report said.
The account was backed up by the second EMT, who noted that the patient was brought out by ESU in “handcuffs and foot shackles.”
After the first round of punches, the patient was “taken off the stretcher to the ground and restrained again, pt. was thrown by ESU again on to my stretcher,” the EMT wrote. “Pt. sustained injuries to face and head,” the report said.
An FDNY spokesman confirmed there was a notification from the agency to the NYPD. The NYPD said the 67th Precinct incident is being investigated by the Internal Affairs Bureau.
