Julie and I were working a night shift out of Auburn. Now Jules and I had started in the job together at Rozelle, and were good mates with each other. The shift had been kind of cruisy so far, with nothing too difficult, and that was how we liked it.

It was about one AM in the morning, when we got a job down in Dartbrook Rd. Normally, jobs around that time of the morning were usually chest pain, breathing difficulties or PFO’s (pissed and fell over).

This one was a little different. The call came down as “someone going to die”. And they didn’t specify who.

Some of the blocks of units in the street are housing commission (commish), and some of the residents don’t always look after the buildings very well. This one fit into that category very well. There were parts of bicycles in the overgrown front yard, empty beer bottles strewn around, as well as a good amount of litter. There was also, the ever present, discarded baby stroller.

Now as we entered the building, none of the stair lights were working, how unusual, (a note of sarcasm).

Well, we walked up the stairs to the second floor where the unit number was located, and the door should have been the first alarm bell to ring. It was ajar, and had obviously been either kicked in, or punched hard, as there were two holes in it. Warning bells went off in both mine and Jules’s head, that something was wrong here. Well I did the usual thing and knocked on the door and announced we were there from the ambulance. With that, we heard someone bellow from somewhere inside the flat, and heard the sound of someone running toward the door.

At that, I said to Jules “Go”, and started down the stairs close behind her. We were faster down the stairs than I thought we could while carrying all of the gear we are required to take in to a job. I had the defibrillator and the oxy-viva, and Jules was carrying the drug kit and first aid kit. I could hear behind me, and the guy was coming down the stairs after us. I glanced around to see where he was, and I could see he had a sword of some kind in his hand as he was running. Shit!

We turned the corner, onto the street footpath, and headed towards the ambulance at a run, which was parked a way down the street due to the parking congestion. As we were running toward the ambulance, Jules was trying to open it with the remote, but the doors wouldn’t open. Double shit! The only avenue of safety to us was now closed, as it would have taken time to go to the drivers’ door and key the doors open, so Jules bolted across the road, and I carried on down the footpath. As I turned to keep running, I was trying my best to find the duress button on the portable radio, as we didn’t have the microphone extension cords back then, and I couldn’t get it off my belt while I was running.

Now, whether it be fate, or it be fortune, I don’t know, but he tripped over on the footpath, with the sword clattering across the concrete pavement, and going under a nearby car, and two big Islander gents who were sitting on the fence of one of the blocks of units, went over and prevented him from getting up. One of them actually sat on him. It was at that time, that having dropped the gear down on the ground earlier, that I was eventually able to find the small duress button on the radio, pressed it, and stated on the radio a code 1, zero 1 (officers in danger, send police urgently).

The police turned up eventually, after two ambulances had already arrived from Auburn within minutes of the call going out.

Fortunately, Jules was OK, just a little shaken up, but not hurt, and I was just out of breath from the running.

Well, the police took him away, but he was later transferred for psychiatric assessment as he apparently had a long history of violence owing to his psych history.

No charges were laid by the police as he was considered too hard to prosecute due to mental illness.

It’s peculiar you know, he was well enough to be let out into the community, to live on his own, and act inappropriately as he chose fit, but not quite well enough to be held accountable for threatening the lives of an Ambulance Officer. Curious, isn’t it.

We were sent out straight away on another job as soon as we cleared from talking to the police. I guess we just roll with the punches.

At least Jules was OK, she was my main concern.