EMT wonders how he’d handle same situation

Pretty quick into the George Floyd thing I learned that a first responder— a paramedic like me— stood there and filmed the entire interaction. Her iPhone footage was some of the core content the prosecution used in court.

That made me angry.

She knew— and testified— that something seemed off. And it wasn’t because of the way the cops were handling things. She didn’t know any more about their ways of doing things than I do.

They talked about the paramedics on the news…

“The ambulance was taking too long to get there,” she said. “The station is just down the street.”

That stood out to me…

It was taking too long for the EMTs to arrive, yet SHE IS an EMT.

Why didn’t she stop recording, identify herself, and just step in and help?

I even saw an interaction— on HER video— she had with an officer. She could have helped. She SHOULD have helped.

This hit me wrong.

So wrong.

So many people— especially in the poorer areas— film us on every call. It makes it harder to work, too, because they jump in close to make sure they document everything we do. It adds unnecessary tension to an already difficult— often life-or-death— scenario.

People— often bystanders— don’t give us space to do our job.

They also bark orders at us (even though they called for our help because they obviously couldn’t resolve the issue on their own), they get in our way, and they wonder why we’re not moving faster. They make it hard to think clearly by adding layers of confusion to already chaotic environments.

That said, this was ONE OF US doing the very same thing to us that we hate. All the while, she had the chance— the training— to just step in and help.

Why was she a bystander who chose to film the entire event rather than a profession who stepped in to help?

Maybe she couldn’t have helped. Perhaps I’m looking at it all the wrong way.

And, I’ll be honest…

I’ve wondered if I would have stepped up and helped. I know I wouldn’t have had my camera phone out, but I wonder if I would have stepped up and volunteered my skills.