Police in the Black Sea resort of Sochi have detained a man accused of severely beating a paramedic for asking his wife to move a car that was blocking the way of an ambulance.
Regional Governor Alexander Tkachyov said the paramedic has been hospitalized in an intensive care unit. In a further series of Twitter messages Wednesday, Tkachyov called the case "outrageous" and pledged to closely monitor the investigation.
The ambulance had been "transporting an emergency patient" to a hospital when the crew found its way blocked by another car, a spokesperson for the Health Ministry's branch in the Krasnodar region, which includes Sochi, was quoted as saying by southern Russia's Yuga news site.
"When asked to clear the way, the woman driver refused crudely and cynically," the spokesperson was quoted as saying.
Other employees of a clinic served by the ambulance came outside to join the paramedic in trying to persuade the woman to move her car, but "none of the appeals had any effect on the driver," the spokesperson said, Yuga reported.
The woman then "complained to her husband, who arrived at the ambulance station together with a friend, called the paramedic out for a chat, and inflicted severe injuries [upon him]," the spokesperson was quoted as saying.
The paramedic has been hospitalized with brain injuries, including a subarachnoid hemorrhage, Yuga reported. The suspected attacker has been detained for questioning, a police spokesman was quoted as saying.