Mo. Responder Disarms Man With Knife Inside EMS Unit
A heat-related medical call got extremely heated for three firefighters after a man barricaded himself inside the EMS vehicle with the responders Friday afternoon.
Fire crews and responders arrived at the East Hills Library in reference a black male suffering from heat exhaustion shortly after 3 p.m., said Fire Capt. Dennis Dornhoffer. As crews pulled into the parking lot, the unidentified man jumped into the back of the EMS response vehicle with Mr. Dornhoffer, the driver, Joe McMillian, and additional responder, Mark Haenni.
"I was just getting out of the rig and the guy jumped in, saying people were trying to kill him. He was fighting and was very agitated," Mr. Dornhoffer said. "He had a knife on him, so I was calling for police, telling them to get here and hurry."
The man continued to fight with firefighters as police arrived. Mr. Dornhoffer, with more than 40 years' experience with the Fire Department, feared that the situation would escalate.
"It's a weird feeling, because Joe is trying to talk with him to calm him down and Mark is in the back seat with him," he said. "This guy locks himself in by the door so nobody else could get to him. It got pretty scary."
Stationed in the back seat with the man, Mr. Haenni grabbed the blade of the knife and took the weapon away from the man.
"I think the blade cut my glove, because when I looked down, my glove was split," Mr. Haenni said. "I'm not cut or anything. It all happened so fast."
Despite the man's continual fight, emergency responders forced him out of the vehicle and subdued him with a Taser. After two shocks, he was taken for treatment at Heartland Regional Medical Center.
No injuries were reported. Officers said the man has a criminal history of drug abuse and other arrests.
The man's name was not available Friday evening.
Kristin Hoppa can be reached
at kristin.hoppa@newspressnow.com.
Follow her on Twitter: @SJNPHoppa.
Copyright 2012 - St. Joseph News-Press, Mo.
