By Mark Vester
The Puerto Rican public is demanding an investigation on tragic death of Miguel Cotto Sr. There is a public outcry in Puerto Rico from thousands of fans, asking why it took four calls for an ambulance to arrive with help. A local liquor store clerk, Douglas Melendez, called for help at the request of a very ill Cotto Sr.
Cotto Sr., father of two-division champion Miguel Cotto and junior welterweight contender Jose Miguel Cotto, suffered a heart attack while driving his car in Caguas, Puerto Rico on Sunday. Cotto stopped his car and asked Melendez to call an ambulance. Cotto died not long after.
Melendez complained to local media that he called 911 at least four times before help arrived. He claims to have called at 2:04 pm, 2:14 pm, 2:15 pm and 2:53 p.m. The last call was to report the death of Cotto Sr.
Jose Alicea, director of Emergency Medical Corps (EMC), claimed in a radio interview that all of the units in the area were not available but El Nuveo Dia notes that there are inconsistencies with Alicea's story and the timeline of events. A preliminary investigation is taking place. Alicea says there is no negligence on their part.
"The closest units were occupied at the time," said Alicea. "The units closest to the place, which would be to Caguas and Aguas Buenas, who were the fastest, were at a car accident. It was in the neighborhood of La Mesa in Caguas. We had to move several injured patients to hospital in Caguas.
"From what I understand, having larger units at the accident prevented the units that were closer to move. First of all, someone would have to demonstrate that we didn't meet our duty. Negligence has to be that we had the use our hand and we didn't use it. But you can not blame a person who has so few resources. Negligence is if we would have ignored the call for emergency. 60% of our cases are done in under 15 minutes."
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