DC paramedic says he was punched, bitten in ambulance then struggled to get help

Six months into 2025, 19 D.C. firefighters reported being assaulted on the job. That’s almost once a week on average. Firefighter-paramedic Dave Brown was one of them, in an attack caught on video.

Just before 8:30am May 8, DC Fire & EMS was called to a corner in Chinatown for an unconscious man who appeared to have fallen off his rented bicycle. Paramedic Dave Brown told the News4 I-Team he put a collar on the man to protect his neck, loaded him onto a gurney and started the trip to nearby Howard University Hospital.

A block into the trip, Brown told the I-Team the patient woke up and hit him in the head.

“He wanted to fight. He wanted to assault me," Brown said.

Stunned, Brown tried to get away, but in the back of a moving ambulance he could not go far. By then, the previously passed-out patient had unbuckled his seatbelts, stood up and bitten Brown on his back and on one ear.

Bloodied, Brown bolted for the front of the ambulance. The patient can be seen on surveillance video jumping out the back door. By that point, Brown’s partner called for help, sounding a “10-33” on the radio, the code for a first responder in trouble.

Brown said D.C. firefighters arrived on the scene quickly, treated him and tried to keep the patient from getting on a Metro bus.

Dispatch records reveal it took 14 minutes for police to arrive. A source familiar with the call inside D.C.'s Office of Unified Communications told the I Team dispatchers thought a D.C. police officer was still on the scene after the call for the downed biker turned alleged attacker.

“We're in a job where seconds count,” Dave Hoagland, DC Fire Union Local 36 president told the I-Team. “So, when minutes go by until we can get help, it's very concerning."

How often firefighters in DC and across the US are attacked

For more than a year, the I-Team has examined the dangers firefighters face when they are attacked by patients they're attempting to treat. Last month, a Kansas City firefighter was stabbed to death in an ambulance.

In D.C., fire records show D.C. firefighters report an assault on the job about once a week.

“In all honesty, this is something that we deal with on a fairly regular basis," Brown told the I-Team.

Researchers at Drexel University's Center for Firefighter Injury Research & Safety Trends have researched assaults on firefighters for years. In a study about to be published, they surveyed 10,000 firefighters in 90 departments across the country. Of those, 77% said they had been verbally assaulted in the past year, and 46% said they had assaulted physically.

The experts at Drexel recommend annual training on how to deal with and prevent assault.
We asked Brown, a 19-year veteran, if he had ever had training to avoid and deal with assaults.

“I've got to think about that for a minute,” Brown said, before telling the I-Team, “No specific training, no."

D.C. Fire told the I-Team they are “working with the Training Academy and the DC Firefighters Union to explore what training can be implemented. It is in the developmental phase.”

But that’s what the department’s told the I-Team last year.

Brown said he recovered from his injuries but did want to find out if there was any chance he might have been exposed to any illness from the bites. Without a warrant, that is difficult.

The man accused of assaulting Brown is still in jail as his lawyers try to assess his case and condition.