PITTSBURGH — It’s been a difficult six months for the City of Pittsburgh Bureau of Emergency Medical Services.
11 Investigates has learned five EMS employees have been accused of serious wrongdoing.
Three of those five have left the bureau.
Sources tell Chief Investigator Rick Earle the latest case involves a medic who allegedly filled out reports for calls he never went on and charged the city overtime
He has received a five-day suspension pending termination.
Earle questioned Mayor Corey O’Connor about the rash of EMS workers recently facing troubles.
“Look, we have really good employees, some people make bad decisions, so you know, how do we work around that and how do we make sure that people in Pittsburgh know that we are going to provide them with the best services possible,” Mayor Corey O’Connor said.
This comes just months after a district chief accused of falsifying time sheets and a division chief responsible for monitoring overtime were both fired.
They appealed their firings to the Civil Service Board, but before learning their fate, the district chief opted to resign.
And the division chief, who had 40 years on the job, retired.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE >>> 11 Investigates Exclusive: 2 high-ranking Pittsburgh EMS officials suspended, under investigation
Sources told 11 Investigates that the division chief is the same supervisor who told EMS Chief Amera Gilchrist that he had submitted paperwork to get two brand-new ambulances inspected by the state, but 11 Investigates discovered that was never done.
We took our findings to Chief Gilchrist last year.
“I will just say this, I was unaware they were not contacted,” Gilchrist said during an interview with Earle last May. “It’s unfortunate, like I said, you know, but everyone’s human, everyone makes mistakes. This is a mistake that definitely won’t happen again.”
11 Investigates also broke the story about another medic who abruptly retired after allegations he repeatedly took boxes of rubber gloves from UPMC hospitals and traded them for pizzas at a local pizza shop.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE >>> 11 Investigates: Medic accused of trading gloves for pizza retires after internal investigation
And we were also the first to tell you about paramedic Michael Bess, charged with child endangerment, after allegedly injecting his 16-year-old son with steroids in Ohio.
He’s pleaded not guilty and requested a trial.
Bess was initially placed on paid leave but then reassigned to desk duty pending the outcome of his case.
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Earle: “Concerned with some issues with EMS? Has it been straightened out?”
O’Connor: “Look, in every department there’s going to be some bad actors, unfortunately, but I think for us we have to keep talking about the ones that do their job every day and that save everybody’s life.”
O’Connor said he has complete faith in Gilchrist.
Earle reached out to the union that represents the paramedics in question, and they declined to comment on the cases.
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