Former paramedic testifies of ‘relaxed’ scene where teen lay dying

The call ended for the paramedic in hospital, where he says he performed CPR in vain on the 19-year-old gunshot victim, and blood was squirting onto him.

It began nearly an hour earlier, when everything the paramedic saw and heard as Yosif Al-Hasnawi lay on the sidewalk, suggested the teen had suffered a superficial injury.

It was fairly relaxed," said Christopher Marchant of the scene, when he arrived with paramedic partner Steven Snively to treat the victim three years ago in Hamilton's east end.

Marchant saw three Hamilton firefighters present, as well as police officers.

(A firefighter) said it's a small wound, it's a pellet gun,'" Marchant testified on Tuesday, answering questions from his lawyer, Jeffrey Manishen, via Zoom.

Hearing that, does it have any significance for you?" Manishen asked.

Any information from a first responder ... holds a bit more weight, when we take our scene observations," said Marchant, adding that the injury appeared like a pimple that had been squeezed," and less serious than pellet gun wounds he has witnessed in the past.

The paramedics are each charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life in connection with Al-Hasnawi's death.

Marchant testified that they believed that, given the injury and that the patient was combative" and confused," he should go to St. Joseph's hospital for a psychiatric assessment, rather than Hamilton General for trauma care.

He said that when Al-Hasnawi's heart rate plummeted en route, he upgraded the call and told Snively to hit the ambulance's flashers and siren.

Al-Hasnawi was pronounced dead at 9:58 p.m., having bled internally from damage from a .22-calibre hollow-point round.

Marchant said he didn't sleep that night and returned to work the next day at 11 a.m. In a phone call that same day with a colleague - he didn't know was recorded - Marchant said nobody believed" the wound was serious, and everything was perfect on this kid ... his vital signs were perfect."

That call, it went south real fast," he said on the phone.

Marchant will be cross-examined by the Crown on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the judge in the trial has ruled a complaint filed against Marchant for his treatment of a different patient in the past will not be admitted as evidence.

Jon Wells is a Hamilton-based reporter and feature writer for The Spectator. Reach him via email: jwells@thespec.com