Rocco Parascandola, Thomas Tracy and John Annese
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — A drunken patient shot an emergency medical technician in the back Wednesday night inside an ambulance headed to a Staten Island hospital, police sources said.
The EMT, who is in his 30s, was shot in West Brighton just after 7:55 p.m., police and FDNY sources said.
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The ambulance had just picked up an unconscious drunken man at a bar, said the sources.
The EMT was working on the patient as the ambulance headed toward the hospital when the patient suddenly came to, pulled a gun and opened fire, sources said.
The EMT was hit in the back near the left shoulder, sources said.
The shooter ran out of the ambulance, but only made it about 100 feet before an off-duty police officer grabbed him and took him into custody, the sources said.
The medic works in an ambulance that belongs to Richmond University Medical Center, about a half-mile away, hospital spokeswoman Meredith Gaskins confirmed Wednesday night.
The EMT was in stable condition at the hospital where he works, Gaskins said.
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