FOREST PARK, GEORGIA — A paramedic trying to help stop an argument between a few people at a gas station had found himself stabbed without realizing it at first.
After he went to retrieve his firearm from his vehicle, he helped clean up the store and drove home, and it wasn’t until then that he realized he had been stabbed.
According to WGXA-TV in Macon, [Alex] Mims reportedly tried to intervene when three customers in a Circle K at 2580 Riverside Dr., Circle K gas station got rowdy around 7:34 p.m.
At the time, his wife Cassidy said, Mims was in line with chocolate milk and snacks for their kids while the trio allegedly harassed the clerk and other customers.
According to the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office, Mims said he was standing behind a man who then cleared his throat. The suspects allegedly turned on Mims, yelled at him, paid for their items, then approached Mims and cursed him out. Mims and two suspects began a physical fight that moved out of the store, where Mims “went to his truck and got his rifle.” That’s when the fight ended, according to the report. Mims told deputies he was “just trying to scare the two people he was fighting.”
via news-daily.com
Mims is now out of the hospital and recovering.
Many locations do not allow paramedics to carry firearms on their person, but some allow carrying a firearm inside their vehicle. I’ve had this discussion with many paramedics over the years; should they be allowed to carry while working?
The answer is never the same, as some believe they should and some believe the job is too risky to take the chance. Meaning, they sometimes encounter very dangerous situations and are unaware of how a potential patient may act.
If I recall, it seems that the majority of those I spoke with were in favor of paramedics carrying firearms, but laws and policies would need to be changed in many places before that could be a reality for the majority.