Man charged with ambo assault ‘trying to help sister-in-law’

A man accused of assaulting a paramedic maintains he was just trying to help his sister-in-law and denies the charge, as statistics appear to show attacks on paramedics are on the rise nationally.

Tyson Parker was arrested just after midnight 10 days ago after the alleged assault, while his sister-in-law was on the ground, unconscious, at Cockle Bay Wharf in Sydney.

The 22-year-old woman had been out celebrating her birthday, and tragically died in St Vincent's Hospital on the weekend.

Mr Parker, 27, has been accused of shoving a paramedic in the back, but he claimed the man might have slipped.

However, he told A Current Affair he was "in hysterics" and wanted his sister treated.

Police alleged the paramedics were met with a volatile situation at the scene.

"(The paramedic) goes, 'I'm not going to touch, I'm not going to do anything until the police get here'," Mr Parker said.

"I didn't do nothing, all I just said (was) 'Mate, mate, go, go, she's there, you have to help her', and security guards wrapped their arms around me.

"I could barely touch him, I didn't do nothing, no assault or nothing.

"They had me secured, saying, 'Calm down mate', like, 'Just calm down' and I'm just there going, 'Help her, help her', screaming, that's all I could do."

He was charged with common assault and obstructing or hindering an ambulance officer by an act of violence.

He has also been accused of possessing and supplying cocaine.

"All I am saying is that the paramedic who was on the scene, the person that had all the tools and all the knowledge to help her was doing nothing," Mr Parker said.

Paramedics attending dangerous and violent situations are entitled to refuse to treat patients until police arrive and ensure their own safety is not at risk.

A Current Affair has also been told that when paramedics arrived on the scene, the woman was being given CPR by Thomas Kelly Youth Foundation volunteers, and when the paramedics went to take over, one of them was allegedly shoved.

They then sought the protection of security guards.

Mr Parker will face court on September 19.

The case comes as ambulance hierarchies try to draw attention to what they say are unacceptable rates of violence inflicted upon paramedics.

New South Wales Ambulance Service Commissioner Dominic Morgan said he "despaired" of the situation.

Three paramedics have been assaulted every week this year.

"Imagine any other workplace where it would be okay for three of your colleagues to be assaulted," Commissioner Morgan said.

"It just wouldn't be tolerated".

He said any violence suffered by paramedics also meant the person in need of care faced the possibility of a worse outcome.

Libby Mills, who has been a paramedic for eight years, said "every shift" she and her co-workers faced aggression.

"I've been pushed and shoved, physically, by males, by females, trapped in the back of an ambulance," she said.

"I don't know why people are doing it, I don't know whether it's a change in culture in terms of people's respect for emergency services, for health care providers."

Ambulance officers will soon trial body-worn cameras similar to those used by police.