Council requires body armor, self-defense classes for EMTs
EMTs working for the FDNY must receive body armor and regular self-defense training courses thanks to a pair of bills passed by the City Council on Thursday.
The legislation, which now heads to Mayor Adams’ desk for his signature, comes amid an uptick in attacks on EMTs in the city in recent years. In 2022, there were 363 attacks on emergency medical service workers, a fourfold surge compared with 2018, according to the most recent FDNY data.
Staten Island Councilman Joe
Borelli, who penned two of the bills, highlighted the 2022 killing of FDNY EMT Capt. Alison Russo-Elling.
Russo-Elling, who died from being stabbed in a random attack while on duty near her Queens home, might have survived if she had body armor on, Borelli, the Council’s Republican minority leader, noted.
“These folks don’t have a choice whether they get to respond to an incident or not — we expect them to go wherever the danger is,” he said before the vote. “They’re our angels, and we should treat them like that and make sure they are given the best chance of coming home safely to their loved ones every night.”
The mayor’s office did not immediately return a request for comment. Borelli said he expects Adams to sign both measures, though.
The body armor bill, which passed the Council in a unanimous vote, requires that all EMTs who respond to emergencies be provided with vests that meet ballistic and stab-resistant standards.
A second bill, which also passed unanimously, would require that FDNY EMTs receive self-defense and deescalation training at least every three years.
The training will be geared toward teaching EMTs how to defend themselves in certain violent situations they are more likely to encounter on the job, like incidents involving individuals with mental illness. The training will also include a focus on teaching EMTs how to recognize and understand mental illness, according to the bill.
“We owe it to them to take every possible measure to safeguard their lives while they protect ours,” said Councilman Kevin Riley, a Bronx Democrat who co-sponsored the bills.