A drunken patient shot a 25-year-old EMT who was caring for him in the back of an ambulance Wednesday evening.
The ambulance, Richmond University Medical Center, responded to a call for a disorderly individual at the Funky Monkey bar at 1205 Forest Ave. in Staten Island at about 7:40 p.m. EMTs loaded the patient, Thomas McCauley, 37, into the back of the ambulance, according to New York police.
As the ambulance was proceeding to Richmond University Medical Center, the EMT was collecting patient information from McCauley when he pulled out a gun and shot the EMT in the shoulder, police said.
The driver of the ambulance stopped the vehicle at 646 Forest Ave. where McCauley fled the vehicle. The driver of the ambulance proceeded to the hospital, where the EMT was treated. He is in stable condition, police said.
A retired police detective and a lieutenant in the sanitation department’s HazMat Division apprehended McCauley and retrieved a .38 caliber handgun believed to be used in the shooting, police said.
Police said they had responded to one prior call for an emotionally disturbed individual that involved McCauley.