Image source: YouTube screenshot
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Firefighter doesn't regret repeatedly punching handcuffed patient who spit at him: 'Consider my actions public education'
December 16, 2022
A Miami firefighter told WTVJ-TV he has no regrets after he was caught on video repeatedly punching a handcuffed patient who spit at him in a hospital in October.
What are the details?
Video shows the patient — identified in a police report as Antonio Cruz — brought on a stretcher to the Jackson Memorial Hospital emergency room after consuming cocaine and heroin, the station said.
Image source: YouTube screenshot
Cruz was "agitated and screaming to the rescue personnel," police said, according to WTVJ, which added that Cruz is seen in the video spitting in the direction of a firefighter's face.
With that, the firefighter swings at and repeatedly punches Cruz, the station said, as the firefighter's colleagues try to stop him.
Image source: YouTube screenshot
The City of Miami Department of Fire-Rescue said in a statement that the firefighter — Robert Webster, a lieutenant — was immediately relieved of duty following the Oct. 15 incident, WTVJ reported, and an investigation commenced.
'Consider my actions public education'
Webster told WTVJ he doesn't regret his actions — and added that "if he never knew the consequence of spitting in a grown man’s face, then consider my actions public education and this video a [public service announcement]."
Anything else?
WTVJ said Webster spoke to the station in 2019 about an incident two years prior when he found nooses hanging over his family pictures at the fire station.
"I want justice, I want to love this job again," Webster said then, according to the station.
Firefighter Caught PUNCHING Handcuffed Patient in Miami Emergency Room | NBC 6 Newsyoutu.be
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Sr. Editor, News
Dave Urbanski is a senior editor for Blaze News.
DaveVUrbanski
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