An FDNY ambulance did not reach 13-year-old stabbing victim Syles Ular in time to treat his wounds, leaving cops to rush the bleeding boy to the hospital, The Post has learned.
Ular was stabbed with a knife multiple times in the chest by another 13-year-old on an MTA bus in Staten Island at about 2:20 pm. Friday – at a time of heavy medical emergency calls and most ambulances in the area tied up, officials said.
“Because of the increase of call volume at that time of day, which is not unusual, most of the ambulance units were on other calls,” said FDNY spokesman Jim Long.
“A unit was assigned to this job from a little further away because of the busyness and the unavailability of resources.”
The 911 call to Hylan Boulevard and Littlefield Avenue in Eltingville came in at 2:23 pm, the NYPD said.
Police arrived at 2:26 pm., and left with the teen in a patrol car en route to Staten Island University Hospital South at 2:31 pm.
Meanwhile, an FDNY ambulance was immediately dispatched with an ETA of 14 minutes, but arrived in 10 minutes at 2:33:40 pm. Long said.
But that was about two minutes after the cops had left for the hospital.
The NYPD officers had to quickly decide whether to wait for an ambulance with EMS personnel – who could stem the bleeding, give oxygen or IV fluids, and perform CPR – or hightail it to the hospital.
“No point in waiting for an ambulance and letting him die on the street,” a veteran paramedic said.
“The only way to save him was through surgical intervention.”
The police arrived at 2:35 pm at the hospital, a Level 1 trauma center, where Ular was pronounced dead.
A retired cop who happened to be in the area nabbed another 13-year-old, a fellow student of Ular at IS 7, a short distance from the scene.
The youth was charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon.
“It’s a shame that there was no ambulance immediately available for a kid who was stabbed on a city bus and ultimately went into cardiac arrest,” said Anthony Almojera, vice president of Local 3621, the EMS officers’ union.
“Throwing a kid in the back of a patrol car does not work.”
It’s a growing citywide problem, he added: “Every day, the city’s EMS workers are responding to ever increasing call numbers, and currently we are short-staffed.”
Combined response times by FDNY ambulances and fire companies to “life-threatening medical emergencies” have risen for the second consecutive year: up 20 seconds on average, or 3.5%, to 9 minutes and 50 seconds compared to the prior 12 months, according to the Fiscal 2023 Mayor’s Management report.
Ular’s mother declined to comment, saying she will speak out after her son’s juvenile killer is “indicted.”
“Right now, I’m grieving.”