A Texas firefighter was suspended for stopping at home before responding to an emergency call late last year involving a teen suffering breathing problems because of asthma.
San Antonio engineer Michael Gonzales received a 90-day suspension for going home to get his personal stethoscope before going to a call of a 14-year-old high school student who was having trouble breathing, KSAT-TV reports. Because of the stop, it took Gonzales 18 minutes to arrive at the scene, which "could have resulted in additional injury or death," according to suspension records.
Gonzales admitted to the allegations as part of an agreement with the fire department to reduce his initial punishment. In May, he was suspended indefinitely, but following the agreement, that suspension was lessened to 90 days, according to KSAT.
