A US paramedic has been suspended without pay after stopping his ambulance to try and save the life of a choking girl without prior authorisation.

Qwasie Reid, an Emergency Medical Technician, was transporting an elderly patient from a nursing home to a doctor’s appointment in New York, when a ‘frantic man’ near a school in Brooklyn urged him to help save the life of a choking student.

Mr Reid ignored his partner’s advice to stay in the ambulance, and instead rushed to help the seven-year-old, who had started choking on a sandwich.

WABC-TV reports that Mr Reid ‘cleared out the little girl’s mouth, put an oxygen mask on her, used a defibrillator and started CPR.’




Mr Reid also told the TV station how little Noelia Echavarria was ‘blue in the face and lips’ when he first arrived, as no one had administered first aid.

But he has now been suspended without pay by employers Assist Ambulance Company – as the firm forbids paramedics from making unauthorised stops.

Speaking to DNAInfo, Mr Reid said he would ‘do it again’, even if he risked being fired.

‘As an EMT, I don’t care about your money’, he said.

‘There was a child choking. I’m worried about them firing me, but I did a good deed. I just feel like I’m being penalised for something and I haven’t done anything wrong.

Tragically, Noelie died in hospital on 23 October after doctors turned off life support.

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