NYC EMS worker stabbed by repeat felon after she attempted to treat him

On Wednesday, a 25-year-old female Emergency Medical Services (EMS) with the Mount Sinai West FDNY was stabbed multiple times by her 48-year-old patient, Rudy Garcia, while in the back of an ambulance. 

According to the New York Post, Garcia is a convicted felon who was arrested at the scene and arraigned for attempted murder, while the woman was transported to the hospital after suffering "significant" blood loss and nerve damage to her thigh. 

Assistant District Attorney Lauren Breens said the man stabbed the woman "several times while she attempted to aid him," which caused her "serious physical injury from the stab wounds to her chest, arm, and leg." 

A video taken after the stabbing obtained by the Post showed the woman collapsing to the ground and screaming as her fellow EMS workers tend her wounds, and try to prevent Garcia from doing any more damage. 

When being taken in custody, Garcia told detectives that the EMS team was "fake" and had "kidnapped" him. 

The report notes that Garcia has two prior felony convictions after he headbutted a police officer in 2017, as well as three misdemeanor convictions. Most recently, he was found with a knife in his boot at the subway station in June.

A spokesman for 1199SEIU, United Healthcare Workers East Bryn Lloyd-Bollard told the Post that violence against EMS workers is "all too common." She continued, “The horrific stabbing of an EMT by her patient underscores the dangers faced by emergency medical workers every day.”  

“New York must do all it can to ensure that these frontline heroes can do their jobs free from the threat of physical harm," Lloyd-Bollard added. 

Head of Local 2507 representing ambulance EMTs and paramedics, Oren Barzilay said, “All of our units are staged at street corners. We’re sitting ducks.” He noted that his team has been assaulted "roughly 110" times this year, mostly by patients. FDNY officials noted that 121 EMS workers have been attacked thus far in this year alone.

NYC District Attorney Alvin Bragg has been widely criticized for being soft on crime, with repeat offenders terrorizing the city time after time. Bragg himself has said things have gotten to a point where he is worried when a family member of his gets on the train.