Ann Marie Thomas, a Detroit EMT, was less than a mile away when an 8-month-old baby was in distress, but she refused to help because she did not want to deal with the possibility of emotional family members.
“I’m not about to be on no scene 10 minutes doing CPR, you know how these families get,” she said to her boss.
She was only a two-minute drive from the scene, but it took her eight minutes to arrive, and she then waited another twelve minutes because she refused to go inside until another team could arrive.
“Ma’am, you have to make contact with your patient,” the supervisor said, reprimanding her for neglect of duty. “There is nothing in the comments that states you have a hostile scene. You have to make contact with your patient!”
It was nearly 20 minutes after the first call before an EMT finally helped the distressed baby, whose parents had been performing CPR in a desperate bid to hold off the worst. However, the baby died the next day, despite being temporarily revived at the hospital.
“My daughter would have been here if she just came around that corner and responded to my cry for help,” Janee Wright-Trussell said of the tragedy.
Thomas was pulled from duty immediately following the incident.
Fire Commissioner Edsel Jenkins upheld Thomas’ termination on Wednesday, saying, “After reviewing all of the facts of this incident, I have determined that the appropriate course of action is to terminate Ms. Thomas’ employment with the Detroit Fire Department effective immediately.”
