‘You are lying to this court’: Crown suggests former paramedic failed Yosif Al-Hasnawi repeatedly
In the black and white security video recorded from across the street, paramedic Steven Snively is illuminated by the flashers of a police cruiser, as he kneels to tend to Yosif Al-Hasnawi, who is dying from a gunshot wound.
Crown prosecutor Scott Patterson took Snively through the footage frame by frame during testimony via Zoom Thursday.
Snively had testified that he asked the 19-year-old questions about pain, checked his heart rate, and carefully pressed down on his stomach to check for bleeding.
Patterson suggested the video was proof he failed to do these things properly.
At 14:47 (on the video), that's you kneeling down with Mr. Al-Hasnawi," said Patterson. And then at 15:06, you (stand) back up."
Correct," said Snively.
You are down at Mr. Al-Hasnawi's side for 19 seconds. Right?"
As the video shows, yes."
Sir, I'm going to suggest that you are lying to this court, when you tell his honour that you had this interaction with Mr. Al-Hasnawi; that you took his pulse and ultimately palpated four quadrants of his abdomen. Isn't that the case?"
No."
You physically could not have accomplished even the conversation you had with him, in the amount of time you were at his side; 19 seconds."
The exchange was part of occasionally withering cross-examination of the former paramedic, who along with fellow ex-medic Chris Marchant is on trial for failing to provide the necessaries of life to Al-Hasnawi.
Snively countered that he was multi-tasking" the entire time he observed the patient.
Part of the case defence lawyers seem to be presenting is the pair did their best to care for Al-Hasnawi under challenging circumstances and constrained by poor information.
But Patterson cited several moments where he suggested Snively should have performed better, had he followed the guidelines of his training.
He said Snively participated in a dangerous lift" of the patient off the sidewalk, when Al-Hasnawi's younger sibling tried to drag his brother to the ambulance.
And he said that if Snively had noticed blood on the victim's white Nike shoes - visible in an exhibit photo - it would have set off alarm bells that the teenager may have suffered a penetrating abdominal wound, which the medics had ruled out.
Jon Wells is a Hamilton-based reporter and feature writer for The Spectator. Reach him via email: jwells@thespec.com