Union: Shooting Shows Need for EMS Unit in TX City's Downtown

Austin-Travis County EMS medics struggled to reach victims of the mass shooting on East Sixth Street in downtown Austin early Saturday, and the head of the EMS union worries that the same problem could happen again without a dedicated downtown team.

Sixth Street was barricaded to vehicle traffic and was crowded with foot traffic, when medics responded to the shooting at 1:25 a.m. They took four wounded people to the hospital via ambulance, and Austin officers shuttled six other victims in police vehicles, EMS officials said. Three victims got to the hospital in private vehicles.

"We should never have police officers transporting victims," Selena Xie, Austin-Travis County EMS union president, said. "But because we don't have an established downtown group, it makes it really hard to get enough ambulances in and also get them into a position where they can transport patients."

Still, Xie and Austin Fire Department Battalion Chief Thayer Smith said officers reacted quickly.

"Transporting in police cars is not normal but, given the situation last night, officers did a great job to get the scene under control and get those folks to care," Smith said.

The union has asked the city this year to designate a group of medics and EMS vehicles specifically for downtown.

"We know that it's going to be a violent summer — we've already seen violence increase," Xie said. "That's purely because we're coming out of the pandemic, and there's going to be a lot of activity."

Firefighters also responded to the scene early Saturday.

"We had two night (fire) inspectors who were out last night, right on scene at one of the bars where the (shooting) scene occurred," Smith said. "They were immediately able to come out and start giving updates on the number of victims."

Due to crowds and traffic, downtown Austin is more difficult for first responders to navigate than other parts of Austin. Xie said she is concerned that transportation issues could continue to be a problem.

"It's one of those things where, for example, if we know we're going to have a hurricane, we prepare for it," Xie said. "We know there's going to be violence in the summer downtown, and we just aren't really prepared with a specialized plan for that. We've been suggesting putting specialized units in place, so it's a little frustrating to see it happen."

Also, Austin-Travis County EMS is understaffed, Xie said. The department saw a record number of medics leave during the pandemic, and the city is about 100 medics short of the 600 medics it is budgeted to have.

"Working in a pandemic does not make the job more fun, and it definitely pushed a lot of people over the edge into much earlier retirement than they had planned," she said.

____

Visit statesman.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.