Michael Bloomberg's security detail was attacked today
A police officer in Mayor Michael Bloomberg's security detail was attacked on a subway platform Monday. He was treated By NYC EMTS for minor injuries. Related Links
It all happened around 1:20 p.m. at the Fulton Street station in lower Manhattan, according to the NYPD.
Mayor Bloomberg was unharmed.
City officials who were with Bloomberg said the mayor and most of his entourage were walking along the platform, and passed the disheveled-looking man as the train was pulling into the station.
The mayor was already about 15 feet past the man, and about to board the train, when the man shouted toward the officer, "I hate you," followed by profanity.
He then lunged at the uniformed officer, who was part of Bloomberg's entourage that protects him when he rides the subway. They scuffled - rolling around on the platform - before the man was taken into custody.
The 30-year-old suspect was taken to Bellevue Hospital hospital for observation. Officials said there was no reason to think he had targeted the mayor.
Bloomberg had just come from a Brooklyn event where he was showcasing his environmental agenda, which includes a plan to get more people onto mass transit to reduce traffic and congestion.
"I took the subway over here today," he said earlier Monday. "You know, it's a nice ride, and the bottom line is I didn't have to deal with a lot of traffic."
Bloomberg had just left the A-train and was on the 4/5 platform when the incident occurred.
He later called the injured officer at Downtown Hospital to make sure he was ok.
Short description of the design: Caterpillar stretcher unit provides ergonomic and time saving transportation
How did this design improve life and for whom?: 80% of patients being moved to the hospital by ambulance are not acute cases. They are conscious and aware of what is happening. However carrying a stretcher downstairs, with a 100-kilo person is not a pleasant experience for a patient or the paramedics, furthermore the weight load makes it difficult for women to manage the job. The patients feel insecure, and often in panic react by grabbing the stair railing which can result in a fall for all three involved, especially as they are often carried downstairs in a backwards position. Because it takes two paramedics to carry out this task, they must make extra trips up and down to fetch equipment and patient’s belongings. With the Caterpillar Scoop it is possible for one paramedic to move a patient downstairs, and the reduced weight load allows women to work as paramedics on an equal basis as men. The second paramedic can carry the equipment. Thus the product improves the work lives of both the paramedics as well as the patients.
What is the decisive role of the designer/design team in the creation of the nominated design?: This project started with the task of redesigning the ambulance interior. During the initial research it became clear that the stretcher and its placement in the ambulance were decisive factors. In studying the stretcher and observing its use by the paramedics, a number of weak points and paradoxes were discovered. These were problems that the users (ambulance workers) accepted as given work conditions, and the possibilities for improvement had not been identified or even considered before the designers analysed the work process and began suggesting alternative ways of doing the job. This design analysis brought the users into the problem identification process and was a significant factor in the problem solution.
How did the design aspect help provide coherent whole concerning form, function, resources, user kindness, aesthetics etc.: The user studies phase of the design process was a significant element in identifying the problem. What started out as a routine ambulance redesign, ended up with an analysis of the work processes involved in the use of the ambulance, and the most significant was the use of the stretcher in connection with the ambulance. The design aspect in this case was thus, the designer’s ability to perceive problems from a holistic point of view and see the product in the context it was being used, which in this case involved strong considerations to function and user friendliness. The new stretcher design resulted in a completely different approach to patient movement and thus became the most important problem to solve. By concentrating on improving the personal experience of using the product a new technical design evolved, which led to the final solution and improvements in other associated aspects of the entire patient transport situation.
The process used to create the design: The project was developed with the Swedish Ambulance Academy in collaboration with the user group – the ambulance staff. Extensive research during the problem identification phase included user studies, interviews, competitive and analogous product research, technical research and prototype exercises. This user research identified a number of problems, which were evaluated. One of the greatest design opportunities involved improving patient transport to and from the ambulance. The current situation involves a number of heavy lifts and patient maneuvering. Especially moving down stairways and on difficult terrain, the situation involves heavy and even dangerous lifting for the ambulance staff – a factor that also creates a sense of insecurity for the patient. Therefore the problem was to evaluate the current situation seen from the staff and patient’s point of view and develop a better, safer work environment for the staff and a more comfortable and secure situation for the patient.
Functionallity and use of design: The Caterpillar stretcher allows a safer, more effective work environment via the stair climbing capabilities due to the caterpillar track system, which brings the patient down stairs without heavy lifting and by one person. A viscose clutch controls descent and the lightweight construction, rear wheel steering and large wheels, greatly improve manoeuvrability. The unit also has a detachable “scoop” element eliminating an extra product and making the rescue situation faster and more effective.
Drunken dialing's always a bad idea, especially when the number you're dialing is 911.
An off-duty FDNY emergency medical technician learned that lesson firsthand yesterday morning, after she supposedly made several fake emergency calls a few hours after police wouldn't arrest a bartender she thought had wronged her.
Pamela Falco, 48, was "out cocktailing in the Bay Street area" Wednesday night, according to a police source. Around last call, a bartender took her car keys, afraid she might get behind the wheel drunk, the source said.
Ms. Falco called the police at about 5 a.m. yesterday, telling them the bartender had assaulted her, according to court papers. But the officers who responded soon realized she was telling tales and wouldn't arrest him.
About an hour later, she made her way to her emergency band radio, and started ranting - on an NYPD frequency - about the quality and intelligence of Staten Island cops, the source said.
"Staten Island cops know nothing!" she allegedly said over a restricted radio band, according to court papers.
By 7 a.m., she had made her way to a pay phone near her Maryland Avenue home in Rosebank, and that's when she started calling 911, cops allege.
In a span of maybe 10 minutes, she made three bogus calls - two of them reporting that someone had jumped into Lower New York Bay, and a third reporting that a man with a knife had stolen her purse on Hylan Boulevard at Bay Street, according to the police source.
The man-in-the-water calls drew a massive response from police and the FDNY, who searched the bay near Edgewater Street for close to an hour, looking for a drowning man.
The police response to both incidents.Court papers don't detail the bogus water rescue call, but they describe another phony emergency cops say Ms. Falco concocted at about 7:40 a.m. That time, she claimed that someone took her purse at gunpoint.
Cops were able to trace the calls to the pay phone, and when they arrived, Ms. Falco was still there, the source said.
"I guess her hangover was still with her," the source said.Ms. Falco is charged with reckless endangerment, falsely reporting an incident and obstructing government administration.
An FDNY spokesman confirmed that Ms. Falco works as an EMT for the department, but wouldn't say where.
So far, the spokesman said, no disciplinary action has been taken against her, but FDNY officials will investigate the incident.
Ms. Falco has been an EMT for about two years, the police source said.
She's expected to be arraigned today in Stapleton Criminal Court.
An MTA express bus collided with a tractor-trailer on the Bruckner Expressway in the Bronx Wednesday afternoon, injuring 13 people.
Authorities say the bus was rear-ended by a truck in the eastbound lanes, near the Bronx River Parkway, just after 1 p.m.
Eleven passengers on the bus and the bus driver were treated for injuries that were not considered life-threatening, officials said.The driver of the truck was also injured. It is not clear what caused the crash, which backed up eastbound traffic.
The Bronx-bound express bus was operating on theBXM11 line,which runs from Midtown to the Wakefield section of the Bronx.
A police officer in Mayor Michael Bloomberg's security detail was attacked on a subway platform Monday. He was treated By NYC EMTS for minor injuries.
