Hospital Cop Alleges He Was Assaulted by EMTs; EMS Union Blames Officer
By ARI PAUL
The union representing Hospital Police Officers is waiting for internal investigations to conclude before it moves forward in representing an officer who claimed he was assaulted by two Emergency Medical Technicians at Lincoln Hospital in The Bronx. The head of the union representing the EMTs charged that the hospital cop was at fault.

TOOK THE WORST OF IT: Hospital cop Riza Sever said he sustained bruises under his left eye and had to be treated in the emergency room of Lincoln Hospital Aug. 15 after two Emergency Medical Technicians allegedly assaulted him when he tried to keep someone accompanying a patient from entering the Bronx facility.

The cop, Riza Sever, claimed that on the night of Aug. 14, when he tried to make sure that a man accompanying a patient was supposed to be entering the hospital, he was assaulted by the two EMTs escorting the patient. Mr. Sever and several of his colleagues later claimed that Health and Hospitals Corporation supervisors threatened him with disciplinary action for allegedly instigating the altercation.

Mr. Sever, who has eight months on the job, claimed that he was trying to stop a man carrying a baby who was following a patient on a stretcher carried by two EMTs. He tried to stop the man, he said, but one EMT challenged him, shouted expletives and then punched him three or four times on the left side of his face in "rapid succession."

The hospital cop also claimed that the two EMTs were arrested within 30 minutes but were later released. He said he went to the emergency room that night and sustained bruises and swellings. Mr. Sever said that he was questioned by supervisors without union representation, although a union rep later arrived at the scene. He claimed that one of the supervisors told him that if the EMTs went to jail, Mr. Sever would also be arrested, and urged him to drop the charges, noting that Mr. Sever was still in his probationary period at HHC. He did so, but with mixed feelings.

'Unable to Sleep'

"What happened really traumatized me," he said in a phone interview last week. "I have been unable to sleep for days."

He added that his co-workers supported him because they know that he is not a violent person.

"I have the reputation of being the most laid-back and respectful person," Mr. Sever said. "I treat people the way I want to be treated. I'm not there to bully anybody. I was just doing my job."

Teamsters Local 237 President Gregory Floyd said that because Mr. Sever chose not to make an arrest of the two EMTs, the situation has been moved into the jurisdiction of the HHC Inspector General.

An Incomplete Videotape

"It's kind of over," said Mr. Floyd. "If he had made an arrest, we would have been supporting the officer in his arrest, but that didn't occur."

The Local 237 leader requested a hospital videotape of the incident from HHC after the investigation is over.

"I'm told that it does not show the entire incident, and which part I don't know," he said.

But Patrick J. Bahnken, who as president of Local 2507 of District Council 37 represents Paramedics and EMTs, said that the witnesses and the videotape of the confrontation show that the officer was the aggressor. He added that Mr. Sever's union representative informed him that the tape conflicted with Mr. Sever's claims about being assaulted.

"He made it clear to him that despite his version of events that the videotape left some serious questions," Mr. Bahnken said. "This guy is not coming with clean hands, so to speak. Unfortunately, this young man's ego has put him in a position where he is going to have greater problems."

Colleague Rips Union

An HHC spokeswoman declined comment, citing the ongoing investigation.

Officer George Hudson, who works with Mr. Sever at Lincoln Hospital, was frustrated by Local 237's inaction.

"Why should you be waiting for any investigation?" he said, insisted that Mr. Sever was the victim of the assault. "He was beaten and then threatened."

He added of HHC, "They're trying to cover it up. These two EMTs, there's no way in the world they could not have known that we're peace officers."

Mr. Hudson, who has been on the job for 10 years but said that he was looking for other work, said that Local 237 has often overlooked the problems affecting Hospital Police Officers, and that its decision to hold off on defending Mr. Sever was part of a pattern.

"We're being treated like step-children," he said. "They're not defending us when the officer is right."

Mr. Bahnken said he was confident that the two EMTs would be exonerated by the investigation. He added that the incident did not reflect any greater conflict between EMS personnel and the hospital police.

"Our members are proud to work with them," he said. "We have nothing but respect for the hospital police officers."