Mayor Evans provides briefing regarding emergency response on Seneca Ave.

Today, Mayor Malik D. Evans discussed the Nov. 30 emergency response to a City of Rochester resident who was experiencing a medical crisis. That person died more than two weeks later.

Mayor Evans has called for AMR to conduct its own in-depth investigation into what happened that night. In addition, Rochester Police Chief David Smith has called for an immediate internal investigation of the incident by RPD’s Professional Standards Section.

“Even though this was a medical scene, there are lessons to be learned for all involved,” said Mayor Evans. “We must get to the bottom of this. We must understand how and why this occurred, and we must identify processes and safeguards to ensure that it does not happen again.”

The Mayor released a video that includes a combination of blue light camera and body worn camera footage of the incident.

That video shows a person, who was having trouble breathing, being asked to leave an ambulance and wait on the street for another ambulance to arrive to take him to the hospital. It also shows that person, in clear distress, falling to the sidewalk and waiting for more than two minutes before medical personnel help him.

Rochester Police had been called to the ambulance to address what was described as an assault of the EMTs on board. Police stayed on-scene, even after the scene was clearly safe, and were present when the patient fell to the ground.

“City residents are people and they deserve to be treated humanely and with the same attention as anyone else,” Mayor Evans said.

The City’s ambulance service provider, AMR, has committed to working to determine the reasons this incident occurred, address the gaps in the care that was provided to this patient, and fix whatever led to this unacceptable situation.

Mayor Evans committed to providing updates as the City learns more.