Ambulance dispatch was short staffed and scrambling on the night Yosif Al-Hasnawi died
Christine Rankin | CBC News | Posted: November 25, 2020 3:55 PM | Last Updated: November 25, 2020
'He's been shot with a BB gun, and he's acting like it's an AK-47,' firefighter remembers officer saying
The ambulance dispatching centre was busy and understaffed when they received a call from police the night 19-year-old Yosif Al-Hasnawi was shot and killed, a Hamilton court heard on Wednesday.
And the colleague of a 911 communications officer who took the call says proper protocol wasn't followed either.
Wednesday was the second day of a superior court trial for two former Hamilton Paramedic Service paramedics, Christopher Marchant and Steven Snively. The pair are charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life in relation to Al-Hasnawi's death on Dec. 2, 2017.
The court heard from two dispatchers who worked for the Hamilton Central Ambulance Communications Centre that night. It also heard from a firefighter who was on the scene at the corner of Main and Sanford streets where Al-Hasnawi was shot once in the abdomen at 8:55 p.m.
The dispatchers said there are normally around eight or 10 people working a 12-hour shift, and those workers rotate between four different roles. But that night there were only five, and people were juggling multiple tasks during the rush.
When the call came in to the centre from police, the court heard, the officer said a male had been shot with a BB gun, and that the wound was "superficial." A dispatching call to the fire department had the same information.
In reality, a .22-calibre hollow-point bullet had punctured Al-Hasnawi's artery and vein.
Crown attorney Linda Shin said on the court's opening day that the paramedics on the scene didn't think his injuries were serious and thought he was shot by a pellet or BB gun.
Paramedic questioned emergency level
Anastasia Markos said Wednesday that was working overtime and answering 911 calls that night on top of her role of dispatch backup. The call taker didn't follow the protocol, she said, and ask all the necessary questions.
Part of the call taker's job is to fill out a report in the dispatch priority system, which determines the incident's severity.
On the part that read, "Is this an immediate threat to life," the worker clicked no.
The worker also didn't know whether Al-Hasnawi was alert or if anyone had tried to wake him up. The call taker input these answers as "unknown," in which case the system assumed the worst.
The call went out at the highest priority — a Code 4 emergency.
'Sarcastic'
An exchange between Marchant — who called the dispatcher, Janice Mcmeeken, to ask why it was such a high level for a "superficial" wound — prompted Mcmeeken to file a complaint about him for "comments made on air."
She said paramedics shouldn't question a dispatcher, and even called Marchant the next morning to scold him for asking questions when the dispatchers were busy. In the report, she called his approach to the reported wound "sarcastic."
When the ambulance left the scene with Al-Hasnawi on board, it headed to St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton.
Markos was responsible for sending the ambulance to hospital. While she wanted to send them to Hamilton General Hospital because it was closer and the others were busy, the paramedics reported the injury as a psychiatric emergency.
This meant they had to go to St. Joe's, she said.
There was no supervisor that night
They told her Al-Hasnawi was "extremely altered," and Markos said it sounded like the paramedics believed that was the primary problem, not the wound.
Mcmeeken and Markos also noted that a supervisor would have to be notified about a call involving a gun, including a BB gun. But a supervisor wasn't working that night.
That supervisor would also be the person responsible for notifying the paramedic supervisor.
A lot of things weren't properly documented that night, Markos said, because of how busy they were.
Al-Hasnawi was pronounced dead at St. Joseph's Hospital at 9:58 p.m.
'He's acting,' officer says
The court also heard from witness Mark Stevens, who was a captain with the fire department that night and has since retired.
He said firefighters were dispatched to the scene. But when they went to help, Stevens said, a police officer motioned for them to back away. Stevens said he took it as the officers not wanting them present.
Stevens said he heard the officer say, "He's been shot with a BB gun, and he's acting like it's an AK-47."
He was shocked at how "loud" and how "aggressively" the officer made the remark, he said. He testified that he also heard the officer say, "he's acting."
Stevens said the officer asked questions to the small crowd that gathered. He remembered hearing the words "BB gun" from somewhere in the group.
When the officer raised Al-Hasnawi's shirt, Stevens saw a small mark from about 14 feet away. Another officer helped lift Al-Hasnawi's shirt from the back.
Small but deadly wound
Al-Hasnawi changed positions during the time Stevens was there, though never completely stood, he said. At one point, Stevens said, Al-Hasnawi grabbed the officer's leg. The officer told him to "let go" in a strong voice.
The teen seemed to be agitated, he said. At one point, he recalled, Al-Hasnawi was partly on his side and trying to roll to his knees.
As his movements slowed, Stevens said, Al-Hasnawi sat on the curb and lay back until paramedics arrived.
When they did, the paramedics quickly examined the injury. When asked by the Crown attorney, Stevens said he didn't remember them taking Al-Hasnawi's pulse, looking at his face, or asking him any questions.
Steven said he was closer now, and shone a flashlight on the wound. It was small, like a perforation, he said, and lightly bruised with no blood visible.
'We're good'
"It looked like it was blistered," he said. "It appeared to be a dark, red clot or blood spot."
When Stevens asked what the paramedics needed, he said, Snively replied with "we're good."
Stevens said he never saw Al-Hasnawi fully stand up or speak during the time he was there. The defence will cross-examine Stevens on Thursday.
The superior court trial is scheduled to last for five weeks.
The person who shot Al-Hasnawi, Dale King, was acquitted last year of second-degree murder. That case is being appealed.