I-93 Protesters Block Easton Ambulance from Reaching Hospital

An Easton ambulance was unable to transport a patient to a local hospital in time due to protesters blocking traffic on I-93 Thursday morning.

Black Lives Matter protesters blocked all inbound lanes of Interstate 93 north and south of the city around 7:30 a.m., preventing the patient from reaching Boston Medical Center and delaying his treatment, according to a post on the Easton Firefighters Facebook page.

• Black Lives Matter Protesters Block I-93 During Boston’s Morning Rush Hour

The patient was involved in a single-car motor vehicle crash at 101 Canton St. early Thursday morning. The car was pinned between two trees, which responders had to cut down, then use the Jaws of Life to rescue the patient, Easton Fire Chief Kevin Partridge stated.

“Easton Firefighters did an excellent job,” he said to Patch. “They were on the scene in 4 minutes.”

Paramedics made the decision to take him to a level 1 trauma center and were headed to Boston Medical Center. Once fire officials heard of the protests on I-93, paramedics then decided to take the patient to Caritas Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton.

The traffic prevented paramedics from transporting the patient to a level 1 trauma center to properly treat him for his injuries.

“The patient was stable,” Partridge said. “He received good care, although he was not in a trauma center.”

Paramedics arrived at the hospital within 40 minutes of responding to the accident. “Even with commuter traffic, we can get through,” Partridge said. “People move out of our way. We would have gotten there in 10 minutes.”

“The protesting affected public safety and the safety of the patient,” Partridge said.

“Feel free to share this post so people understand what this causes on public safety,” Easton Firefighters stated on their Facebook page.

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