The Italian mafia has reportedly ordered ambulance drivers in Naples to stop using their sirens and flashing lights to disturb drug-dealers who mistake them for police.
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Over the weekend, two gang members stopped an ambulance and threatened to kill the driver for putting the siren on while travelling to an emergency in the southern city.
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This is because drug dealers don\’t like blaring sirens and ambulance lights as they can disturb drug-pushers who mistake them for the arrival of police cars, interrupting their business and chasing their off customers away.
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The ambulance drivers in Naples are now demanding police protection from being harassed by the local mafia.
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While travelling to an emergency in the city’s Spanish quarter, one medical worker was driving an ambulance with its siren on when the vehicle was flanked by two men riding a large motorbike, reported The Times.
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They reportedly banged on the ambulance window and threatened to kill the driver.
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Haven’t you understood you cannot use your siren here? Turn it off or we’ll shoot you,’ one of the men warned.
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After the incident, the terrified medic had to call the police to escort him out of the neighbourhood safely.
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Manuel Ruggiero, a 42-year-old emergency doctor and local head of Nessuno Tocchi Ippocrate, a group fighting violence against medical workers, also confirmed similar incidents in neighborhoods across Naples.
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He told The Times: ‘We have already been ordered not to use sirens in other neighbourhoods, including Sanità and Traiano, where the locally based ambulance turns on its siren only after it leaves the area.’
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He also said the Ambulance crews were assaulted by relatives of patients after they arrived on the scene too late to save them.
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‘The same ambulance involved in the incident on Saturday was kicked, and the crew pushed when they were not in time to save a cardiac arrest patient,’ the doctor added.
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