a neighbor of Barcelona from 37 years that was very upset –and apparently under the influence of some drug– ended up dying last Thursday night at the Hospital Clinic. According to three eyewitnesses consulted by EL PERIÓDICO, several citizens who realized his condition asked 112 for an ambulance to attend him, which did not arrive until the man had suffered a cardiorespiratory arrest. thirty minutes later of the first call to Emergències. Police sources confirm the delay and explain that the man, who ended up hitting his head against a parked car, vanished while agents were holding him to prevent him from getting hurt in the presence of a citizen who had identified himself as a doctor. Witnesses confirm the police version. sources of Medical Emergency System (SEM) They clarify that the incident entered through the 112 at 9:50 p.m. and was initially classified as ‘minor’. Almost half an hour later, they emphasize, it was considered “serious” and, from that last assessment, the ambulance arrived “within three minutes,” they remark.
the chronology
Around nine o’clock at night, a man, visibly upset, crossed Avinguda de Paral lel diagonally, shouting and with a chair in his hand, explains a bar employee Vigo, next to whose terrace he ended up sitting. He looked like a tourist, since he expressed himself in English, but he lives in Barcelona. “He sat with his ass on the sidewalk, with his back against the bumper of a car parked on the side of Paral·lel and hugged his knees with his arms & rdquor ;, adds another waiter, from the bar Borrelllocated next to the Galician business.
To the witness of the two waiters is added that of a married couple, clients of the second bar, who intermittently saw what happened and confirm that the man was out of his mind. “The clients called an ambulance & rdquor ;, they explain. And a couple approached the neighbor to try to calm him down. However, due to the state in which he was, presumably due to drug use, he ended up shaking off the woman, who fell to the ground. Around this time, a patrol of the Mossos d’Esquadra -the Ciutat Vella police station is not far away- crossed the area and some customers approached the vehicle, which at that moment was carrying out a arrestee transfer taskto ask for help.
The agents got out of the vehicle to serve customers, saw the man’s condition and called for backup. A few minutes later, several policemen went to the terrace of Vigo. The man was still sitting on the ground, police sources explain, and in English he revealed that he had ingested “drugs”. “A security perimeter was opened – leaving him in the center – and an ambulance was called again & rdquor ;, they explain officially. Several minutes passed like this, with the Mossos surrounding the man waiting for a medical vehicle, until started banging his head against tourism.
According to the police version, which the witnesses interviewed by this newspaper do not deny, the agents intervened at that moment to prevent harm from being done. They stretched him out on the ground, placed a towel under his head – which they asked for at the Vigo bar – and held him down while waiting for the ambulance, which still did not arrive. “At times he screamed and moved with spasms,” police sources say, noting that while the restraint lasted a citizen who had identified herself as a doctor was present. And so more minutes passed.
Cardiorespiratory arrest
When, according to witnesses, “more than half an hour” had passed, the man, held by the police, went into cardiorespiratory arrest. The doctor participated in the rescue maneuvers to revive him. While this care was being carried out, the first ambulance arrived. And, right away, three other SEM vehicles.
SEM sources have explained that the man was transferred in critical condition to the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, where he ended up dying shortly after. The same sources clarify that the first call they received, around 8:50 p.m., described the incident as ‘minor’. And that when a warning from the Catalan police, between 9:15 p.m. and 9:20 p.m., caused the assessment to rise to ‘serious’. After that change, they highlight, the ambulance took three minutes to help the man.
“Desire to cry”
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“It makes me want to cry knowing that this man has ended up dying after waiting for so long for the ambulance,” explains the bartender at the Borrell bar. “What was needed was an ambulance, not police,” lamented the other waiter. The marriage, for its part, wonders “if it is appropriate to hold by force a person who is so upset, as the police did.”
Officially, the Mossos remember that it was a welfare task and have opened an investigation and collected the testimony of several people. At the moment, the Mossos have not found recordings of what happened. The autopsy performed on the body should now clarify the cause of death and whether earlier assistance from an ambulance would have changed things.