A 21-year-old man is facing charges for allegedly assaulting an emergency medical technician and causing thousands of dollars in damage to an ambulance on Saturday night in Centre County.
Mountain Top Fire Company Ambulance Service was transporting Aaron L. Myers, of Clearfield County, to Mount Nittany Medical Center when he became combative, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed by state police at Rockview.
When the ambulance pulled over on Interstate 99 in Patton Township, Myers pushed the EMT “2 or 3 times on his upper body,” causing him to fall back onto a bench, a state trooper wrote.
After the EMT exited the vehicle, Myers began kicking the inside of the ambulance, breaking a window, causing the back door to bow out and damaging medical equipment and radios according to the affidavit. Estimated damages exceed $5,000, the trooper wrote.
Patton Township police soon arrived on the scene and Myers continued to be combative while being taken into custody and en route to the hospital, according to the affidavit. A search allegedly found Myers in possession of a grinder containing suspected marijuana.
Myers was charged with a felony counts of aggravated assault of a designated individual and criminal mischief, misdemeanor counts of simple assault and possession of drug paraphernalia and a summary count of harassment. He was arraigned on Monday night by District Judge Allen Sinclair, who set unsecured bail at $75,000.
Mountain Top Fire Company Ambulance Service wrote in a Facebook post that the EMT was uninjured, but that the damage to the ambulance was extensive.
“We thank Centre LifeLink EMS, Patton Twp Police, and PSP for their response to assist us during this unfortunate event,” the company wrote. “This serves as a reminder our job has great risks. Assault to an EMS PROVIDER is a felony. It is not acceptable and will never be tolerated by our department.
“We will now be down to one transport unit until repairs are made all while our area receives an influx of people celebrating the annual 4th of July Celebration in Osceola Mills. We remain committed to providing exceptional care and our Osceola Mills station is still staffed 24/7 to respond at a moments notice.”
