By Joe Johnson
An emergency medical technician was assaulted last week inside an ambulance by a man who was being transported to the hospital.
A police report about the incident was heavily redacted, but it still contained enough information that made it clear that the EMT had been badly injured in a ferocious attack.
There was mention in the report of blood splattered on the ambulance walls and on medical equipment.
According to the report, the incident occurred late the afternoon of October 23, and was immediately preceded by a police response to the home of 32-year-old Dante Ali Hill at University Oaks apartments off West Broad Street.
The nature of the incident was redacted in the report, which notes that things were resolved by Hill calmly agreeing to be transported to St. Mary’s Hospital.
Melissa Newton is a 35-year-old EMT with National EMS who had responded to the incident. She provided some treatment on scene and continued to care for Hill inside the ambulance on the way to the hospital.
As the ambulance entered the hospital’s parking lot, Hill unbuckled himself from the gurney and attempted to open the doors.
When Newton told him to get back onto the gurney, Hill attacked and knocked down the EMT, pinning her between the gurney and side of the ambulance.
He continued to punch and claw at Newton’s face, and was choking her with both hands when the ambulance driver, Brett Blair, grabbed him around the neck and pulled him off with the assistance of other National EMS personnel and hospital staff.
Newton was brought into the hospital in a wheelchair, and Hill was also taken inside for treatment of unspecified injuries.
The incident happened shortly before 5 p.m., and Hill was released from the hospital early the next morning and booked into jail on charges of aggravated assault, battery, and felony obstruction of EMS.
Judge H. Patrick Haggard denied bail during a hearing Wednesday morning in Clarke County Superior Court.
Hopefully he will be put in the pipeline to prison.