Denver police this afternoon arrested a former ambulance paramedic from Denver Health Medical Center on suspicion of severely beating a patient while transporting him to the hospital last month.
Alan Miller, 30, was arrested on suspicion of first-degree assault after the patient’s wife complained to authorities that her husband had been beaten.
According to an investigative affidavit, Suzanne Lawrence, 46, called for an ambulance just after midnight on Jan. 3, saying her husband had suffered a seizure and hit his head.
The ambulance picked up Tim Smith, 39, on the southwest side of town and headed for Denver Health. Lawrence drove herself to the hospital, where she was able to see her husband after waiting a short time. She told police that when she saw him, he had a broken nose, a broken eye socket and a fractured skull — injuries he didn’t have when paramedics loaded him into the ambulance at their house.
A short while later, according to the affidavit, paramedic Shaunna King came forward and told Lawrence that she and her partner, Miller, had to stop the ambulance near Federal Boulevard and West Sixth Avenue because Smith had come out of his restraints.
Four police officers arrived at the scene and assisted the two paramedics in restraining Smith again.
Lawrence filed a complaint six days later at District 4, on Jan. 9.
The arrest affidavit stated that the Paramedic Division at Denver Health had conducted its own investigation of the incident but refused to share the findings without a court order.
The next day, Jan. 10, Denver County Judge Larry Bohning signed a search warrant for the offices of the paramedic division, resulting in 34 pages of documents and two e-mails being turned over to Lawrence and Denver police.
Mike McPhee: 303-954-1409 or mmcphee@denverpost.com
