Baltimore medics mistakenly declare man dead

Baltimore police say a burglary suspect mistakenly declared dead by medics after he was shot by an officer lay on a convenience store floor for half an hour before anyone noticed he was still alive.

BALTIMORE —

Baltimore police say a burglary suspect mistakenly declared dead by medics after he was shot by an officer lay on a convenience store floor for half an hour before anyone noticed he was still alive.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi (goo-lee-EL-mee) says 51-year-old Michael Quarles was shot early Saturday when he lunged at an officer with a long screwdriver. Guglielmi says the officer thought Quarles had a knife.

Guglielmi says emergency medical technicians pronounced Quarles dead at the scene, then left. But officers noticed about 30 minutes later that Quarles was moving and called the medics back to the scene.

Quarles was taken to a trauma center and remained in critical condition Monday.

The medics have been reassigned until an investigation is finished.

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More proof that we need a socialized medical program with built in delays. If the medics had acted quicker, he would have died of suffocation... Posted on August 3, 2009 at 1:16 PM by shannondoodle. Jump to comment

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