Tuesday morning feel good story
Chief Tango sends us a link to our feel good story this morning from Las Cruces, New Mexico where a really, really fat guy was shot when he tried to burglarize a local home;
The man appeared to have been an intruder attempting to rob or burglarize a home when he was shot in the torso, Las Cruces police Det. Frank Torres said.
LCPD said a person of interest was in custody but had few other details.
The man was transported by ambulance to Memorial Medical Center. He could not be air-lifted as he exceed the helicopter’s weight limit.
Well, looking at the picture at the link, he looks pretty big, but I’m guessing that they couldn’t carry the first responders either.
Category: Feel Good Stories
Yeah, EMS has a hard time keeping employees in a non-round shape. One of the reasons my employees is trying to get as many 68W’s who are in the Guard and Reserves hired.
But I don’t see why flying this guy was even considered. (granted I don’t have all the information)
Fat, stupid and shot in the torso is no way to go through life, son.
Hmmm, he does make a large target. He’d be hard to miss, in the dark and blindfolded.
Strange, most of the EMS I’ve encountered around here over the years look like tri-athletes. Weight problems are rare.
“Never shoot a large caliber man with a small caliber weapon!” In this case I would guess a .50 Cal would would be enough to do the job. Remember, two .22’s do not equal a .44.
As an EMS provider (recovering flight nurse) pretty much any GSW to the chest is flown. The potential for pulmonary or circulatory collapse is too great to leave to the ground guys; as good as they are, sometimes you gotta just haul ass to a trauma center.
And as for being over the weight limit, it’s not hard in that part of the country. The Air medical crews in most of the Southwest fly AS350 B2s and B3’s. With an average sized fuel load and crew weight the usual capacity is 300-350lbs, depending on a few other factors. Also, that guy doesn’t look like he’d fit from a girth standpoint, even if he was transportable due to weight/balance issues.
And John, as a general rule, the first crews on scene aren’t usually the crew that flies him; We in the bird had to be a lot lighter. The ground crew usually consisted of a basic EMT and a paramedic, the flight crews were critical care nurse and paramedic with specialty training. Our weight standard was 220lbs with flight suits, helmet, boots and full kit.
Just your insights to the HEMS world. 🙂 And as a side note; I’m with Roger in Republic. Bigger rounds for bigger threats. I don’t know an EMS person that carries smaller than a .40. 😉