BREAKING: Former paramedics guilty of failing to care for a dying Yosif Al-Hasnawi
Two former Hamilton paramedics have been found guilty of failing to properly care for Yosif Al-Hasnawi as he died of a gunshot wound.
Christopher Marchant and Steven Snively were charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life for their treatment of the 19-year-old on Dec. 2, 2017. Al-Hasnawi died about an hour after being shot on Sanford Avenue South, near Main Street East.
To say this is a tragic case would be a gross understatement," said Superior Court Justice Harrison Arrell. A young and promising life snuffed out because he was trying to be a Good Samaritan."
The unprecedented case is believed to be the first time paramedics have been tried criminally for their care of a patient in Ontario.
Arrell ruled that the paramedics were not reasonable in their belief that Al-Hasnawi had been shot by a BB gun or pellet gun - that this false belief was based off rumour and innuendo."
It was a conscious decision" to ignore the evidence and their training. Their behaviour, including an unreasonable delay leaving the scene, objectively put Al-Hasnawi's life at risk.
They deprived Yosif of his only possible chance of survival," Arrell said.
Throughout the trial the court heard from witnesses, including friends and family who had been with Al-Hasnawi at a religious celebration at the Al-Moustafa Islamic Centre, on Main Street East, that night. Court also heard from first responders on scene, including the paramedics themselves who testified in their own defence.
Some witnesses described the paramedics dismissing Al-Hasnawi's injuries, including laughing. Many people on scene, including the paramedics, falsely assumed he had been shot by a BB gun. But he was actually dying after a single .22-calibre bullet perforated two major blood vessels in his stomach.
The paramedics mistook Al-Hasnawi's involuntary movements as combativeness and questioned whether his behaviour was due to a mental health issue.
Instead of immediately taking him to the Hamilton General Hospital, the regional trauma centre, he was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital, where there is a psychiatric emergency department.
According to the agreed statement of facts in the case, paramedics arrived on scene at 9:09 p.m., left at 9:32 p.m. and arrived at St. Joseph's at 9:39 p.m. He was pronounced dead at 9:58 p.m.
The prosecution accused the paramedics of lying in their testimony and said that their multiple breaches of standards of care amounted to criminal liability.
The defence argued the paramedics made professional errors, but not ones that rise to the level of criminality.
The shooter, Dale King, was found not guilty of second-degree murder after arguing self-defence. Al-Hasnawi was unarmed. The Crown is appealing that verdict.
More to come.
Nicole O'Reilly is a Hamilton-based reporter covering crime and justice for The Spectator. Reach her via email: noreilly@thespec.com