South Los Angeles

Video shows man punching firetruck during response to car crash

One firefighter said his team saw the man a month or two ago and said he was under the influence of narcotics.

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Firefighters in South Los Angeles said they had to physically fight a man off after he attacked a firetruck in a caught-on-camera confrontation.

A Station 16 firefighter was on its way to respond to a crash when the man suddenly climbed aboard the fire engine.

“We were literally responding to a traffic collision and this guy just came out of nowhere, jumped in front of the engine and just started punching it,” said Andrew Chaing, a firefighter/paramedic who was in the truck at the time of the incident.

According to Chaing, the bizarre encounter happened on June 7 near the intersection of Central Avenue and Nadeau Street, roughly half a mile from the fire station. Video showed the man punching the windows of the truck before he turned on the firefighters.

“Once he started reaching in and assaulting my driver, I immediately jumped out, checked him, and got him off and we were able to push him back a bit,” Chaing said.

Eventually, Chaing called for backup and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department responded. Several minutes late, the man was detained.

Chaing said this wasn’t his team’s first encounter with the assailant. According to him, firefighters saw the man a month or two ago and said he was under the influence of narcotics. The department sent him to a psych hospital as a result, Chaing told NBC4.

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