Paramedics restrained Yosif Al-Hasnawi in back of ambulance, officer tells court
Samantha Craggs | CBC News | Posted: December 3, 2020 1:34 PM | Last Updated: December 3, 2020
2 former Hamilton paramedics are charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life
Two Hamilton paramedics now facing criminal charges restrained Yosif Al-Hasnawi in the back of an ambulance before leaving for the hospital, says one police officer, although his flailing was "minimal."
Sgt. Nesreen Shawihat was on patrol with Hamilton Police Service on Dec. 2, 2017, when 19-year-old Al-Hasnawi was shot near his mosque near Sanford and Main Street East.
Two paramedics — Christopher Marchant, 32, and Steven Snively, 55 — responded that night, and are charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life. Al-Hasnawi had been shot with a .22-calibre handgun, the court has heard. But the paramedics, police and some bystanders thought he'd been shot with a BB gun.
It's a landmark superior court trial, one that scrutinizes emergency responders for treatment they provided at the scene.
Shawihat told the court Thursday that she arrived a few minutes after the 8:55 p.m. gunshot. She found two paramedics, two police officers and a gathering crowd. The paramedics dismissed the firefighters.
She, too, said she was leaning toward the BB gun theory.
Shawihat climbed into the back of the ambulance a few minutes before the paramedics left, she said. They'd cut off Al-Hasnawi's T-shirt and removed his sweater. She helped pin one of the teen's wrists.
The paramedics restrained his arms, she said, and possibly his legs. Her memory isn't clear on the latter.
Al-Hasnawi's arms were flailing, she testified, but "it wasn't aggressive. It wasn't hard. I'd say minimal."
"There might have been contact with the paramedics while they were treating him."
As for his legs, she said, the flailing was "not very forceful, but they were moving." He wasn't speaking, just moaning.
The paramedics arrived at 9:09 p.m., and left for St. Joseph's Hospital at 9:32 p.m. Al-Hasnawi was pronounced dead at 9:58 p.m.
When they opened his chest in the emergency room, Dr. Andrew Healey testified this week, his heart was empty.
Busy night at the mosque
Shawihat was a Crown witness in the five-week trial. Defence lawyers Jeffrey Manishen (Marchant) and Michael DelGobbo (Snively) will cross examine Shawihat on Friday morning.
Amin Al-Tahir, an Al-Hasnawi family friend at the Al Moustafa Islamic Centre that night, also testified Thursday. So did George Catsoudas, who went to Anytime Convenience that night to get cigarettes.
Al-Tahir said the mosque was hosting a crowded religious celebration, and Al-Hasnawi had just read from the Qur'an.
During the break, he said, he stood with Al-Hasnawi's dad, Majed. That's when Al-Hasnawi's little brother, Mahdi, ran in and said Yosif had been shot.
They went out to see. Al-Tahir testified that he overheard one of the responders say Al-Hasnawi was acting.
Trying to lift him
The two paramedics tried to pick up Al-Hasnawi, Al-Tahir said, and dropped him roughly when he couldn't stand. Under cross examination, though, video appears to show others trying, including Mahdi and a police officer.
Al-Tahir says he got increasingly impatient when the paramedics didn't take Al-Hasnawi to the hospital. At one point, he shouted at them that Al-Hasnawi was a Brock university medical sciences student.
"Even if he's acting," Al-Tahir recalled saying, "that would mean he's mentally ill and still has to be taken to the hospital."
Al-Tahir also said Al-Hasnawi and his father spoke to each other in a mixture of Arabic and English.
Catsoudas, meanwhile, said he'd just gotten to the store when Ahmed Al-Hasnawi, Yosif's little brother, ran past his mini van. Catsoudas followed him into the store, where he was pleading for people to call 911.
Like a freshly picked scab
Catsoudas crossed the street to the scene. Al-Hasnawi's wound was small with bloody fingertip smears around it, he said. It looked like someone had picked a scab too soon.
Catsoudas told Al-Hasnawi that he'd be fine, and chastised the other youths with him. What if it had been a real gun? he asked them.
When he learned Al-Hasnawi died, he said, he was "devastated."
Other Crown witnesses so far have included two police officers and a firefighter on scene that night, as well as 911 dispatchers.
Manishen and DelGobbo are expected to call their own slate of witnesses. Justice Harrison Arrell will render a verdict.
The person who shot Al-Hasnawi, Dale King, was acquitted last year of second-degree murder. That case is being appealed.