Report: Crowd attacked fire, EMS responders trying to save crash victim

By Laura French

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Firefighters and EMS providers trying to save a crash victim were attacked by an “unruly crowd” in Virginia Monday night, officials say.

A Virginia Beach Fire Department daily briefing report about the fatal motorcycle crash states that several first responders were “pushed and kicked” by people in the crowd as they were treating the victim, according to WAVY, and that some people followed an ambulance to the hospital where they proceeded to “jump on, kick and hit multiple EMS vehicles causing damage.”

The victim died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, according to the Virginia Beach Police Department. The emergency room at Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital was placed on a temporary lockdown as a precaution, a hospital spokesperson told WAVY, which was later lifted “without incident.”

A Virginia Beach Fire Department spokesperson said none of its first responders were injured in the incident.

Neither the crash victim nor any potential suspects in the attacks have been publicly identified. The motives of those who formed the crowd at the crash scene are unclear.

Virginia Beach Professional Firefighters President Max Gonano said the incident was concerning and that making a scene unsafe for first responders to do their jobs is detrimental to the public.