Family stunned after FOX 11 report on paramedic allegedly refusing to enter care facility to help man
RIALTO, Calif. - "We had no idea until we saw it on FOX 11."
Family members were stunned after they saw FOX 11's report on paramedics allegedly refusing to enter the care facility to help Joseph Angulo, a 57-year-old man who wasn't breathing.
Angulo appeared on Rialto Police Department's body camera video we obtained, showing the officer and staff members at the Rialto Acute Care Facility, trying to save Angulo’s life. His heart had stopped while he was staying at the facility in early December, and Rialto Fire paramedics responding to the 911 call refused to go inside, asking that the patient be brought out to them.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Paramedics allegedly refused to enter care facility to help man who wasn't breathing
The officer helped push Angulo’s bed while staff members gave him CPR to the front of the building. He was transported but was declared dead at the hospital.
His family contacted us after seeing our coverage, saying they had been told that their loved one’s heart had stopped and nothing else.
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They assumed he had died in his sleep.
"It was very, very disturbing," says his nephew, Adam Angulo, holding back tears while sitting next to his own father, Danny, who is having a very difficult time understanding what happened.
"I am so, so grateful to the police officer, and the nurses at the facility" says Danny, sobbing.
He explains that his younger brother had been at the facility for only a couple of weeks or so, recuperating from health issues.
"Because of COVID, he hadn’t been able to visit with the rest of the family, and was hoping to do so, this year for Christmas" he adds, explaining that Joseph was the funny uncle that all the children gravitated to, with his rhymes and sense of humor.
We want to remember him that way, not on that gurney, even as there were people who went above and beyond to try to help him, they explain. It’s hard to understand why the paramedics didn’t go in, as precious time passed and the staff was obviously having a difficult time getting him out to them.
The paramedics involved have been pulled off duty, pending an investigation requested by Rialto City officials.
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