Paramedic flips
patient to the floor
Shocking moment
paramedic flips terminally ill man, 49, onto hospital floor because he refused
to move from gurney to wheelchair.
Paramedic Kenneth
Hallenbeck, 35, flipped James Slater, 49, out of the gurney in a Rockledge,
Florida emergency room in February
Hallenbeck has since
been fired from his position and was charged with a misdemeanor of culpable
negligence
Slater, who is in
hospice care, said the American Civil Liberties Union's Florida chapter is
looking into his situation.
Are the people in
the State Attorney's Office in Brevard County doctors?
Reading between the
lines one might wonder if the paramedic knew that James Slater an open Gay was
with aids?
If he did not the
next question would have to be,
"Why Didn't he
know?"
Did he know that one
cannot catch aids just by touching an aids person?
If not, why?
litigation of this
matter would likely have prolonged disposition of the case beyond the victim's
life expectancy?
This is a guess and
a weak guess at that.
Charges were reduced
to culpable negligence.
Brevard County
paramedic accused of abusing disabled, the two got into a verbal altercation
before the video shows Rockland Paramedic Kenneth Hallenbeck flipped James
Slater on the floor at the Wuesthoff Medical Center this past February.
According to
authorities, Kenneth Hallenbeck, who at the time was working as a paramedic for
BCFR, asked James Slater, 49, to move from the stretcher to a wheelchair, but
Slater refused.
After a verbal
altercation, Hallenbeck reached down, grabbed the stretcher, and flipped it
over, causing Slater to fall to the ground, the video shows.
VIERA, Fla. -
The State Attorney's
Office in Brevard County on Friday released surveillance video of a former
Brevard County Fire Rescue paramedic allegedly dumping a patient's stretcher
over.
The incident
happened back on Feb. 25 inside the lobby of the emergency room at Wuesthoff
Medical Center in Rockledge.
"He was
screaming, telling me to get off," said Slater in an interview with
Rockledge police.
"And then he
lifted up the whole side and turned it over on top of me."
At a disciplinary
hearing in March, Hallenbeck, who was with the BCFR for 11 years, was
fired from his position with the county.
Rockledge police
ultimately arrested Hallenbeck and charged him with abuse of an elderly or
disabled person, but on Friday the State Attorney's Office said his charges
were reduced to culpable negligence.
"Based on the
victim's medical condition, which is confidential, it is unclear if he meets
the criteria of a 'disabled adult' necessary to support a felony charge,"
said Assistant State
Attorney Gary Beatty.
"Because of
this uncertainty, litigation of this matter would likely have prolonged
disposition of the case beyond the victim's life expectancy and subjected him
to stress that could have aggravated his condition.
The misdemeanor
charge facilitates a quick resolution of the case that will insure Mr.
Hallenbeck surrenders his paramedics licenses and assures he will not be able
to work as a paramedic in the future."
Hallenbeck is
expected to take a plea deal on June 22.