Paramedics at Brock student’s fatal scene face charges
Both will appear in court Sept. 11
Eight months after 19-year-old Yosif Al-Hasnawi lay dying on a Hamilton sidewalk, police have laid criminal charges against the paramedics who witnesses say did not take his injuries seriously.
Steven Snively, 53, of Hamilton, was arrested Wednesday and Christopher Marchant, 29, of Whitby, was arrested Thursday, Niagara Regional Police said. Both are charged with failing to provide the necessities of life and are scheduled to appear in Hamilton court Sept. 11.
Yosif Al-Hasnawi’s father, Majed Al-Hasnawi, said the family was notified of criminal charges Wednesday and met with police Thursday. Majed said that the meeting with police went well and that he believes they’re doing a good job, but the news has also left him exhausted and overwhelmed.
“I’m going out of my mind … I feel like the tragedy just happened yesterday, it’s brought all the memories back.”
Thursday also marked the first time he’s been able to learn the names of the paramedics he saw that night.
“Hopefully (this case) will change (some) paramedics’ attitudes,” he said.
The family is also suing police, paramedics, St. Joseph’s Hospital for $10 million, alleging negligence. Thursday marked the first
time the Al-Hasnawi family and the public have heard the paramedics’ names.
Mario Posteraro, president of OPSEU Local 256, said they were notified of the charges Wednesday. He accompanied the “career paramedics” to the police detachment in Niagara Falls on Wednesday and then Thursday where they were photographed and fingerprinted, before being released.
He called the charges against paramedics for on-duty work “unprecedented.”
Both paramedics have worked in Hamilton for between eight and 10 years, have had positive performance appraisals every year, without any past issues, he said.
Niagara police said the investigation, which was launched at the request of Hamilton police several weeks after the Dec. 2 homicide, included a team from across Niagara Regional Police who interviewed more than 60 witnesses.
“This was a complex and intricate investigation that required the careful consideration of all available evidence to our investigative team,” Chief Bryan MacCulloch said in a statement.
The investigation, which also included reviewing documents and records and speaking with health-care professionals, was “a very difficult and challenging case for our investigators.”
“While our investigation has concluded, we recognize that this continues to be a very tragic situation for the family of the deceased and our thoughts and condolences certainly go out to them,” MacCulloch said.
Niagara police said the investigation is concluded and no further charges are expected.
Posteraro said he’s confident the charges “will not stick” once all the evidence is presented.
“It’s disturbing to my colleagues and the service,” he said. “It’s a new threshold when paramedics can be charged when there is a bad outcome.”
The person responsible, he said, is the man who fired the gun.
Al-Hasnawi was fatally shot on a Sanford Avenue North sidewalk about 9 p.m. Dec. 2, 2017, after trying to stop an older man from being harassed. Witnesses, including Al-Hasnawi’s family members, alleged paramedics did not believe he had been shot, including laughing and telling him to get up.
Witnesses said the bullet wound was small and some initially speculated it was from a BB gun, not a handgun.
Hamilton police previously said records showed it took 38 minutes from the time paramedics arrived on scene to when they arrived at St. Joseph’s Hospital. There has never been a public explanation for why paramedics did not transport him to Hamilton General Hospital, which is closer to the shooting scene and the regional trauma centre.
St. Joseph’s said in its statement of defence that Al-Hasnawi was already without vital signs when he arrived in hospital, and that despite efforts to resuscitate him, Al-Hasnawi was pronounced dead 19 minutes later.
Hamilton Paramedic Service declined to comment on the charges and whether the paramedics have been suspended or could be fired.
The paramedic service is “nearing completion of its own investigation and in order to maintain the integrity of all the independent investigations into this matter we are unable to provide details on matters relating to human resources, labour relations or the employment status of its staff,” Acting Chief Russell Crocker said in a statement.
“Our thoughts and sincerest condolences continue to be with the family of Yosif Al-Hasnawi.”
Posteraro also declined to comment on the employment status of Snively and Marchant, but said “under the circumstances they’re holding up.”
Failing to provide the necessities of life falls under Section 215, subsection 3, of the Criminal Code of Canada. If convicted it has a sentence of up to five years in prison.
Al-Hasnawi, the oldest of five children and a first-year student at Brock University, had aspirations of becoming a doctor. He was quiet, an artist, religious, loved space and boxing. He had a knack for fixing electronics, family has said.
He was attending a religious celebration with his dad and two teenaged brothers at the Al-Moustafa Islamic Centre, on Main Street East near Wentworth Street South, that night. Al-Hasnawi had just stepped outside for air with a friend and his 15-year-old brother when the confrontation happened.
Majed and others ran out to find his son on the ground, writhing in pain — the only words he could say was a whisper to his dad that he couldn’t breathe.
His father alleges a paramedic told him to tell his son to “stop acting” and asked if he’d taken drugs.
These latest charges are believed to be the first in Ontario, perhaps Canada, where paramedics face criminal charges for
their on-duty work. Hamilton was also the first place a paramedic was charged and convicted under the Ambulance Act for on-duty behaviour — that legislation overseen by the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care has a maximum sentence of a year in jail and a $25,000 fine.
The executive director of the Paramedic Association of Canada said he believes this is the first time paramedics in Canada have faced criminal charges of this kind.
“I recall no similar incidents across the country,” Pierre Poirier said.
Poirier believes a regulatory college for paramedics, which does not exist in Ontario but does in five other provinces, would be the best place to first deal with “malpractice or malfeasance” before laying criminal charges.
In 2013, the Ontario Paramedic Association submitted an application to the provincial government, which was backed by the Paramedic Association of Canada, to establish a College of Paramedics, but they have yet to hear back, Poirier said.
“Often times the public and the criminal system doesn’t know well enough the inner workings of the professional practice,” he said.
“That’s kind of the rationale behind self-regulation … the fact that being judged by your peers first is quite appropriate.”
Hamilton police have made two arrests in the homicide.
Dale Burningsky King, 19, is charged with second-degree murder. James Matheson, 20, is charged with accessory after the fact to murder.
Those cases remain before the courts.