'She took a chunk of my face off': FDNY paramedic recounts 'traumatic' moment drugged-up teen girl, 17, left her 'deformed' after biting her cheek
A veteran FDNY paramedic has recounted the moment a teen on drugs bit her face, ripping of a chunk of her cheek and leaving her 'deformed.'
Jenna Piscitello, 28, said in an interview with the New York Daily News on Saturday that she could feel the the 17-year-old girl's teeth burying into her flesh while she worked to load her onto a stretcher.
Piscitello responded to a call in the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn around 2am on Friday morning when the attack happened, and continued working on the girl until they were both treated in NYU-Langone Brooklyn hospital.
The teen was not identified because of her age but faces a felony charge for assault after leaving the paramedic disfigured. She has previously been arrested for burglary and assault, the Daily News reported.
Piscitello, who was recovering in her Staten Island home on Saturday, received four stitches and has already scheduled an appointment with a plastic surgeon and a GoFundMe has been started to help with her recovery.
Piscitello responded to a call in the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn around 2am on Friday morning and a 17-year-old girl bit her face and left her with four stitches
Piscitello said she has already scheduled an appointment with a plastic surgeon after the attack
A photo posted to GoFundMe shows that the bit reached subcutaneous tissue, the deepest layer of the skin
A photo posted to GoFundMe shows that the bite reached subcutaneous tissue, the deepest layer of the skin.
'I could feel her teeth digging into my flesh. It was almost a stunned feeling,' Piscitello told the Daily News.
She added: 'I looked and I was like, "Oh my gosh, she took a chunk of my face off".'
The paramedic also recounted the incident to WLNY, noting 'there's always a danger' with her job.
'As I picked her up, she just wrapped her legs around me and her arms around my neck and then just bit into me. At first, I didn’t really realize what she was doing. Then there was just immense amounts of pain,' Piscitello told WLNY.
'There’s always a danger, but it just, I just, we need better protection in some way, shape or form,' she said.
Piscitello said she is holding up as best as she can and called it a 'very traumatic experience.'
'Physically, my face is deformed. I’m not pleasant to look at. Emotionally, I’m very drained. But I have the support of my family, friends and co-workers,' she said.
Piscitello plans to take a few weeks off while she recovers but told the Daily News that she wants justice after two other EMS workers were bit in just one week.
The heroic first responder told the outlet that she is willing to forgive the girl but won't forget the hellish attack.
'I didn't go around eating people's faces,' she said.
Paramedics have called for better resources and pay in the wake of a series of bitings in New York
Piscitello plans to take a few weeks off while she recovers and said she is emotionally drained after the attack
FDNY EMS union President Oren Barzilay called on the city to provide EMS workers with the proper tools they need to treat patients.
'Here we are, once again, with one of our members badly injured. How much longer will our women and men be sent out on calls without having the proper tools to assist them?' Barzilay said in a statement obtained by WNYW.
'This past week alone, over a dozen FDNY EMS Local 2507 members were assaulted, one even sustained a broken nose, another crew had a knife pulled on them and countless others suffered other injuries.'
Barzilay continued: 'When will our public officials come to our defense and offer EMS personnel protections?'
No comments