Videotape showing a Chicago Black man taking blows to his face while cowering away from a Black Chicago Fire Department paramedic beating the crap out of him was released yesterday.The paramedic on the tape was reportedly upset that Robert Cole, 43 -- who had called for an ambulance after feeling dizzy — changed his mind on the way to the hospital and decided he didn’t want medical attention.
“He said if I didn’t get [any] treatment, he was going to give it to me,” Cole said at a news conference.
Other Fire Department personnel allegedly stood and watched throughout the beating, which happened in July 2005 outside Roseland Community Hospital. Four of the employees who were at the hospital were suspended.
The tape shows Cole being tossed out of the ambulance and onto the ground in a parking lot. Later, Cole is shown on the ground outside the emergency room as the paramedic stands over him, repeatedly hitting his face, attorneys said.
Although Cole called 911, police were told and believed that he was the aggressor.
He was arrested and later pled to a battery charge. "He was told he would have to serve only 10 days if he did." said attorney, Marcelle LeCompte. "Otherwise, Mr Cole could have waited months for a trial."
The paramedic who allegedly attacked Cole -- Demond Ward -- was fired in 2005 after an internal investigation about the incident.
Ward has since died, with Fox News reporting that it was an apparent suicide.
Cole is now suing the city, hospital, paramedics, and Ward's estate for 4 million dollars.
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