Baby dies days after Raptors parade

Reports that crowds kept paramedics from helping ‘are unfounded,’ city says

An infant died after suffering a serious medical incident during the Toronto Raptors’ championship parade, raising criticism from first responder unions that the crowded celebrations were poorly planned.

A mother was attending the June 17 festivities on University Ave. at York St., where thousands of fans crammed together to see the basketball players as they passed by.

About 1:30 p.m., the mother realized her child was “suddenly unresponsive and called out for help,” according to a city of Toronto press release. Two offduty paramedics who were marching in the parade rushed to the infant, who wasn’t breathing and without a pulse, said Mike Merriman, the paramedic and EMS unit chair for CUPE Local 416. “They had no equipment. They were there for volunteering,” Merriman told the Star. Unable to access an ambulance because of the crowds, Merriman said, the paramedics got into a Toronto police SUV and rushed the child to a nearby hospital. “The reality was, by the time an ambulance could get to the infant, you just couldn’t wait,” Merriman said.

A Toronto police spokesperson said “it was a minute or less” from when the officers inside the SUV received the medical distress call over the radio before seeing the commotion.

“They came upon the situation very quickly, as it was close to the roadway and the crowd had cleared space around the mother and baby,” spokesperson Allison Sparkes said.

The city dismissed as “unfounded” reports that the crowds slowed paramedics and police from reaching the baby.

The baby regained vital signs that afternoon, but died two days later.

The celebrations at Nathan Phillips Square, where nearpanic ensued after gunfire erupted, were mired in “poor planning,” say officials representing Toronto first responder unions.