PORTLAND, Ore. — A paramedic sitting in an ambulance was attacked by a knife-wielding man Monday afternoon in Southwest Portland, police said.
According to police, the ambulance was at a stop light at Southwest 5th Avenue and Southwest Sherman Street, near the Interstate 405 overpass when a man opened the door of the vehicle and tried to get inside.
During a struggle, the suspect attacked one of the paramedic occupants with a knife and then ran off, police said. The paramedic suffered non-life threatening wounds, and police arrived and located the suspect nearby.
"I know it wasn't on a call, they weren't dispatched to anything, they were driving like you and I would've been, no patient or anything in the back," said American Medical Response operations manager Robert McDonald.
A knife was recovered at the scene. The suspect has been identified as Jeremiah James Ray, 38. Police said that he faces a charge of second-degree assault and has been booked into the Multnomah County Jail.
