An EMS unit’s slow response to a Chicago teen’s gunshot wound in the head, is under investigation after the first responders ignored the victim but later found he was still alive.
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According to CNN, 17-year-old Erin Carey was found shot in the head when paramedics responded on the scene on the West Side of Chicago on Monday. Apparently the wound looked fatal enough for the first responders to cover Carey up with a sheet, but it was a fatal mistake.
According to the Chicago Tribune, bystanders saw Carey moving underneath the sheet after emergency technicians had moved on to another victim who was shot.
“He is responsive,” an officer said. “He just moved … from side to side and his arms. So he is not dead.”
“We’ll have a unit go down and check on that male,” a dispatcher responded.
According to CNN affiliate WLS, it took 15 minutes before paramedics removed the sheet and began administering CPR.
News footage showed the teenager appearing to breathe under the sheet and moving around, CNN reports.
“He was shot in the head… I do understand that paramedics looked at him, believed him to be deceased, covered him with that sheet and moved on to another individual who was nearby who was also shot. They saw motion, movement underneath the sheet. Officers who were present notified paramedics,” said Chicago Police First Deputy Superintendent Anthony Riccio.
Carey later died at 1:19 a.m. Tuesday.
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