A good Samaritan in California, is angry after paramedics sent him a
bill for accepting a bottle of water while helping a family trapped in
an overturned vehicle.
Derrick Deanda of Elk Grove, said that he jumped into action the moment he spotted the family in distress.
Deanda uploaded a photo to Facebook, showing the aftermath of a rollover accident that trapped a man and his three children.
Deanda saw the father standing inside the van, holding a 2-year-old
child. Deanda broke the glass window to free the family before
paramedics arrived.
Luckily, everyone was fine. Weeks later, Deanda got a bill in the mail, charging him $143 for using the paramedics.
Deputy Chief Mike McLaughlin is not backing down despite calls to waive
the fee, saying that they are obligated to provide the same level of
service to everyone and the fees are the same for all patients.
Deanda became a patient when a paramedic at the scene treated him for a
small cut and gave him a bottle of water to wash his wound.
“So I guess this is how good Samaritans are treated when they stop at an
accident scene to help somebody. I asked the paramedics for a bottle of
water to clean my hand off because I had a small scrape on my hand.
“They asked me questions and they considered that an assessment on me.
They asked me for my name and information so I gave it to them.
“A couple months later, I get a bill for $143 for a bottle of water.
This makes you wonder why people don’t want to stop to help at an
accident scene,” Deanda wrote on Facebook.
