** Victorian paramedics in Australia to wear body cams
** Maine medic charged with sexually assaulting 11-year-old girl
AUSTRALIA NEWS
** In an effort to stem the rising violence against paramedics, EMS responders in Victoria will now wear body cameras. That is the word from The Herald Sun (Grant McArthur/December 17) which said the cameras will be used by practitioners working in the most historically violent areas. Footage will then be used for prosecutions. The $500,000 required for the trial is being funded by the state’s Health Service Violence Prevention Fund. Statistics indicate some 5000 calls where violence or aggression was used against prehospital providers in the last year.
UNITED STATES NEWS
** A Maine medic has been charged after allegedly sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl at his ambulance station. The Inter-Mountain (December 17) said Kennebunk resident James Ronald L’Heureux, 31, has been tagged with sexual assault in the first degree x 2 and sexual assault in the third degree x 1. Both are felonies. According to the newspaper, L’Heureux attacked the girl while she was attending a CPR class at the facility. According to the girl’s account, the January 2015 incident began with L’Heureux pushing her against a desk, kissing her, and digitally penetrating her. After exchanging text messages one week later, they met in his car, though he failed to convince the girl to engage in sex. A further week later, the two met again and did engage in sexual intercourse. She was 11 and he was 19. A third sexual contact in his car was interrupted by a state trooper but inexplicably no charges were laid at the time. An August interview of the girl, however, revealed that daily sex had gone on between the pair for around a year and a half.
