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What is your opinion on this article? Should the EMS personal (EMT's Firefighters, Police) be brought up on charges?
Body found inside car at impound lot
December 16, 2008 CLEVELAND -- The body of a Lakewood man was discovered Sunday after sitting inside a car at a Cleveland impound lot for nearly two days.
Police say 50-year-old Emil Azzam was involved in a car accident Friday night on I-76 wetbound near the Spring Road exit. It was one of several accidents reported that night as black ice and the weather made driving conditions difficult.
Police, fire and EMS crews all responded to that accident scene to sort out all the cars, but a witness pointed out the Azzam's car, which was approximately 500 feet away from the multi-vehicle accident, and said it was abandoned.
Police say the vehicle was towed by members of the Cleveland Division of Police as it appeared to be involved in a single car accident earlier. The car had sustained heavy front end damage.
Nobody checked the car and it was towed to impound lot #7 in Cleveland. Several cars were towed to that lot during Friday night.
When the car got to the impound lot and, due to the door being locked, no one looked in it.
When Azzam didn't come home, his family got worried and filed a missing persons report. The police told the family a car owned by him was at the impound lot.
The family came to the lot on Sunday and Azzam's body was found in the car. He was slumped over in the driver seat. The driver side airbag had gone off as did the one on the passenger's side.
The Cuyahoga County Coroner's Office reported Monday that Azzam died from blunt force impact, but the family reportedly wants to have their own autopsy conducted.
The Accident Investigation Unit and the Integrity Control Section have been assigned to investigate the incident. Police say the investigation will include an administrative component to determine whether police protocol had been properly administered.
http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200812160700/UPDATES01/81216015
hi Melissa,
yes i do believe they should be held accountable--what if someone had left an abandoned baby in the car & walked away? what if someone deliberately left a bomb in the car so that it detonated when it was brought into the impound? people are so crazy today that you really cant foretell what theyll do. and had it been a baby the world would be up in arms. same with a bomb. the police should be checking every abandoned car as routine & no one should consider any cars at any accident site as "abandoned" without checking them out. thats my opinion anyway.
Kat67
I agree. As an EMT I know that all EMS people involved (EMS, Firefighters and Police,) are all trained to look into the vehicle for patients. I can't beleive it was not done.And that someone is dead because of it. The corner said the man died from a blunt force impact, But he still could have been alive at the time they were all on the scene, And died later from the internal injuries from the blunt force impact. No one will ever really know for sure now. But I think this family is right in wanting another opinion and shouldn't let it drop. I sure wouldn't.
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