WESTPORT, Md. — When the emergency medical call reached Engine 58 in Westport on Monday evening, firefighters and EMTs sprung into action, racing to the Westport Homes public housing complex in South Baltimore, but they never could have foreseen that two of the lives they would have to save would be their own.
“Someone came up alongside of the engine, itself, and as the individual that was in the engine rolled his window down to see exactly if he could help the person, is when they began firing the pellet pistols at him and he was struck in the face,” said Chief Roman Clark of the Baltimore City Fire Department.
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When the engine’s driver jumped out to try to assist his follow firefighter/EMT, the suspect vehicle struck him in the arm as it fled the scene.
Two men who had rushed to save a life now injured in the line of fire.
While both are expected to survive, those who they serve are saddened that they would become targets, like this woman who wanted to remain anonymous out of fear for her safety.
“Postal workers, police, they’re supposed to respect them, but people nowadays, they don’t care about nothing now,” the woman told WMAR-2 News. “They shouldn’t be out here scared to do their job, but unfortunately, that’s the world that we live in right now.”
On the very same day that the assaults occurred, Baltimore City Firefighters and EMTs covered 642 separate calls for service.
In an entire year, that number jumps to more than a quarter of a million calls.
In 45 years of service, Chief Clark says he can’t recall another incident like this one, and it only makes their jobs that much tougher if their not focused entirely on saving lives.
“We don’t want distractions,” said Clark. “We don’t want distractions, but we never know what life basically will hand us as we go by day-by-day operations.”
