Cleveland police bodycam video shows close call for EMS crew inside ambulance struck by bullet
CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - It was a terrifying close call for an EMS crew and a 95-year-old patient back in February when someone shot at an ambulance on the east side of Cleveland.
If paramedics hadn’t been in the back of the truck, they could have been hit.
19 Investigates obtained new police body camera that shows us how officers responded to the scene in the aftermath and started investigating.
The ambulance was struck by gunfire as two crews with Cleveland EMS helped an elderly patient inside of the truck.
It happened February 20 on E. 135th St. in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood.
Luckily no one was hurt.
Body camera video shows an officer examining the windshield of the ambulance, looking for where the bullet hit.
Video from another officer’s body camera shows her checking on the EMS crew and an elderly woman still inside the ambulance.
The Cleveland EMS union, CARE Local 1975, credited the heroic actions of the crew that day.
Union President Mark Barrett told 19 Investigates that one crew member covered the patient when he heard the gunshots.
In the aftermath, officers at the scene tried to piece together what happened.
They walked all the way down the street searching for more shell casings.
Police later found the bullet actually hit the hood of the ambulance and then struck the front windshield, hitting an A-frame inside.
After all of this, crews called for another ambulance to care for their patient.
In total, officers believed five shots were fired.
Barrett told us this doesn’t happen often.
He said it’s been about a decade since an ambulance has been shot at.
They don’t know whether this crew was targeted.
Barrett estimated about 90% of their calls are safe.
We reached out to Cleveland Police for an update on the investigation into what happened and we have not heard back yet.
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