Thursday, April 21, 2011

** Florida man charged with felony for impersonating first responder at MVA scene

** Drunken UK man attacks medic after latter declines to give him a lift home

UNITED STATES NEWS

** Florida police in Fort Walton Beach have arrested a 21-year-old man for impersonating a first responder. That is the word from the North West Florida Daily News (Angel McCurdy/April 20) which said Eric James Menchaca was taken into custody April 13. According to the newspaper, Menchaca was arrested after attending a March 14th traffic accident. Happening upon the scene, he offered to help by identifying himself to a sheriff’s department investigator as both a firefighter and first responder. He was also clad in a dark blue t-shirt with the words Lynch Fire and Ambulance on the front;a baseball cap additionally had EMT on the visor. The jig was up when a fire captain recognized Menchaca as a fraudster. Menchaca has been charged with a felony in relation to the incident.

UNITED KINGDOM NEWS

** A Teignmouth paramedic continues to recover from a split lip after being punched by a man angered he could not use the ambulance as a taxi early Saturday morning. This is South Devon (April 20) said the incident, which played out with the medic dealing with the man through an open window, ended in assault and criminal damage charges for James Freestone, 19. According to the newspaper, Freestone hailed an EMS unit to the local railway station in order to obtain a ride home. Feigning an injured foot, he became enraged when medics declined transport, punching practitioner Christopher Hill through the driver’s open window. Immediately after the hit, Hill alighted from the cab, wrestled a drunken Freestone to the ground and hailed police. Freestone, who has pleaded guilty to the charges, is set to appear again in court May 18 for sentencing.