Man Dies After Firefighters Won't Cross Street to Help, Daughter Says

Marie Mills held her 77-year-old father, who had collapsed outside in a Washington street. She screamed for help. A passerby rushed across the street to bang on the door of a fire station, knowing that firefighters are trained to provide emergency medical help. But they wouldn't leave the station. The same thing happened when two more people tried to summon the firefighters for assistance, Mills says.

"We looked across the street at the fire station. There was a firefighter that was actually standing against the fire apparatus," she told CNN affiliate WJLA. "Everybody started trying to wave him over." But the firefighter said he had to be dispatched first.

"I even ran to the curb and said, 'Are you going to help me or let my dad die?'" said Mills.

Later, after an ambulance finally arrived, Cecil Mills died at a hospital. He had suffered an apparent heart attack.

"Our duty is to respond to all requests for emergency assistance. If it is determined that proper protocols were not followed at the conclusion of our investigation, then appropriate action will be taken," spokesman Tim Wilson said.

The protocol is in question because, according to the Mills family, those who asked for help at the fire station were told to call 911.

Calls to 911 were placed, but a mix-up with the address delayed an ambulance, said Washington Council member Tommy Wells.

"Two things happened," he said. "One was that no one came out of the fire house to help this gentleman. The other is the ambulance that was dispatched was dispatched to the wrong place. This was a number of fiascos."

www.cnn.com...

I'm not usually one to bash on first responders, but this is just sad. Not only would the firefighters not help this person without a dispatch from 911, but 911 dispatched an ambulance to the wrong location. The heart attack victim subsequently died at the hospital. I can't help but believe that if help was rendered at the original request, then this man would still be alive today.

Sounds like they were just to worried about being sued or something.

They need to be fired. And they ought to be very ashamed of themselves.

Just disgraceful!

reply to post by LeatherNLace

Wondering how many firefighters actually knew this was occurring. If it was one, then it's that ones fault. If others knew, it's surprising not one of them ran over to help. If someone wanted to and a supervisor told them not to, but wait for a call, that would be even more tragic. A non-comedy of errors, and firefighters the world over will be talking about this today (and although the poor man died, maybe this will save others in the future as regulations will be changed in many places because of this).

reply to post by LeatherNLace


Well, I guess there's more than political D-bags in D.C. Now it's firefighters not doing their job. I would post pictures of this particular D-bag all over the city, letting them know exactly who will not do their job. Absolutely despicable behavior on behalf of the entire fire dept. They should close the station if they refused to do their job-no questions asked. I bet if it was his father laying on the ground he wouldn't hesitate. I wouldn't like my tax dollars spent on lazy good for nothing loafers like this. Sorry for this girl's loss, could have been avoided!

It's a terrible situation when a responder can't do their jobs because of fear of lawsuits and job loss. He most likely was following the guidelines he was given.

chiefsmom
Sounds like they were just to worried about being sued or something.

They need to be fired. And they ought to be very ashamed of themselves.

Just disgraceful!

If being sued was the first thought that crossed their minds, then they certainly should be fired. Ahh, who am I kidding, they should be fired anyway. 911 isn't anything more than a "middle man". The "dispatch" was made the moment help was requested by the dying man's daughter.

This sounds like someone who became a firefighter for all the wrong reasons. How could anyone not help someone in dire need? Not the kind of person I would have in my circle. What a D-bag! Post his picture everywhere and anyone else who didn't lend aid.

Its those idiots and dumb protocols that give the rest of us emergency worker a bad name. Check out some of the dept's down there..they have bullet holes in some....this is not helping the cause.

I've come across accidents while coming back from calls. Did I just drive right on by. No! I stopped and informed dispatch. One it looks stupid bad...and two its against the law and your license will be taken away...good luck getting a job after that..

Now I don't know that firefighter's qualifications..not all firefighters in a department are BLS certified.....but at the very least have to be CPR certified..
This firefighter could of at least informed dispatch and give the proper address...

Can't wait to see what Bureaucratic excuse is given!

This is terrible
Aren't rules meant to be broken in cases like this? Ridiculous you have to follow red tape.
What if one needs medical help on an aircraft? If a doctor is on board, he helps, without calling 911.
A person trained in saving lives should just help automatically, if they have a conscience.

chiefsmom
Sounds like they were just to worried about being sued or something.

They need to be fired. And they ought to be very ashamed of themselves.

Just disgraceful!

Your first sentence explains the whole problem, but your second sentence blames the wrong people.

Put yourself in the fireman's shoes.............you are standing at your fire station next to equipment that could help to extinguish a fire across the road, but you have a legal protocol that says you CANNOT attend any fire without first being despatched. If he breaches this legal protocol he could face being sacked even if he saved lives and put out the fire. But if he does what he is LEGALLY required to do then everyone else calls for him to be sacked for not taking action. What is he supposed to do ?
His job will be determined not by what society deems "morally" right, but by what the courts deem LEGALLY right. Now with you putting yourself in his shoes, do you risk you job to do what's morally right, or do you risk public backlash to do what is legally right ? Can this fireman win either way ? Yet did the fireman make this law ? Should he have to face possible court cases [possibly at his own expense] just for doing what others call morally wrong ? How many of the outraged onlookers went and looked for a hose or water supply to put it out themselves rather then waving their outraged hands in the air ?
If anyone should be fired, it's the brain dead morons that make these idiotic rules in the first place. But yet again, their actions go unnoticed while we all turn on each other in the age old game of Divide and Conquer !

Everyone is morally right on the internet, all of the time, just ask them...............but I assure you that most of those people will not put their job on the line to do what others class as morally right. And if I have learnt anything in my life, it's that those who tend to take the moral high ground tend to have the most to hide behind closed doors !

It's a terrible situation when a responder can't do their jobs because of fear of lawsuits and job loss.

reply to post by Hoosierdaddy71


It hasn't been established that that was the case....but even so...would you just stand there knowing that someone you could help, could die becuse you were waiting to be TOLD to?

It reminds me of a story I read about a fire department that let a womans house burn to the ground because she owed the city $75...let her home burn to the ground. She lost everything.

This is just further reinforcement that society is racing to the bottom.

Just checked and found this story....it happened AGAIN.

usnews.nbcnews.com...

chiefsmom
Sounds like they were just to worried about being sued or something.

They need to be fired. And they ought to be very ashamed of themselves.

Just disgraceful!

Or the people who have been so sue happy as to create this situation should be ...

Why didn't they just call that fire department and ask for an emergence?

That's how it goes though. Has anyone here ever went to a cop in the midst of a crime and ask for help. They do nothing. They call the police. They are as scared as you are. I've seen it often. Cops and firemen are rarely heroes.

I was at a fire once and we in the community were helping put out the fire more than the fire men!

Believe me, it isn't like television.

reply to post by LeatherNLace


This is really scary

I have always told my son there are 2 people you c an trust

Paramedics and firefighters

They are there to help

Unlike the police

If this is true it could be the beginning of the end for that line of thinking

And i don't want that

Hopefully this is an isolated incident and they will be punished

And with any luck i will not hear another story like this again

When i have to lump firefighters in with police it is a sad day for our countyy

Truth be told, if it was one of their own or a family member, it would be a grand moment. Then again, truth be told. This is sickening beyond imagination. WTH is weak!

The Deputy Mayor has said publicly that there is no protocol preventing the firefighters from helping and in fact they do "have a duty" to do so, so the fail is on the officers in charge that day. I have no doubt this will end badly for more than a few.

Further:

Tim Wilson, a fire department spokesman, said everyone working assigned to Engine 26 and Truck 15 that Saturday afternoon is being questioned. The firefighter who is accused of refusing to help was hired in the past year and has not yet passed probation, city officials said.

When someone seeks help at a firehouse, procedure calls for the officer in charge to be notified and to decide what action to take. Wilson and Edwards said the probationary firefighter may have told superiors, and the investigation is focusing on who knew about the pleas for help and on why no one acted.

Protocol may be prevent them from "self dispatching" but it does not prevent them from assisting when someone seeks them out...

reply to post by LadySkadi


Sad and sorrowful, for far too many these days. What will it be like in 10 years time.

reply to post by LeatherNLace


There is something off about any firefighter who is less concerned with saving lives, than following rules. The mindset which allows a person to become a firefighter, is one of being able to immediately switch from passive to active, with only the merest provocation, one which makes this outcome all the stranger. I know many members of our fire brigade here in Shoeburyness because I used to live right around the corner from the local fire station, and our volunteers would never have allowed someone on their patch to cop it without acting to help, no matter the circumstances!

As a former EMT, Those firefighters had a 'duty to perform', these idiots should be fired then charged with negligence

reply to post by TrueBrit


sad story for sure, reminds me of another...a guy went down to the beach to kill himself, the mother called 911, emergency people were sent out, they stood there on the beach for 40 minutes watching him drown himself...because they didn't have their water certification renewed yet.

the guys mom was there distraught that they wouldn't help him.

this must have been awful for the daughter to have this experience.