BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — A teenager struck a paramedic in the face after his friends said he smoked marijuana, started to act strange and then fell and hit his head.
Just before midnight on Friday, authorities in Boulder County learned of a person who needed to be rescued near the 2600 block of Flagstaff Mountain Road.
Witnesses said an 18-year-old man had smoked marijuana and then started to act strangely before he fell and hit his head. The man’s friends told dispatch that they were worried about his behavior and were holding him down so he couldn’t run into the woods, according to the Boulder County Sheriff's Office.
Paramedics and Boulder Fire Department personnel arrived before any law enforcement and began to attempt to treat the man, but he struck one of the paramedics in the face, breaking his glasses and leaving a mark.
The paramedics and firefighters wrestled the man to the ground and held him there while he struggled. They were forced to administer a sedative to calm him, according to the Boulder County Sheriff's Office.
Shortly after, deputies with the sheriff’s office and officers from the Boulder Police Department arrived.
Because the man was off the trail, members of Rocky Mountain Rescue responded to the incident as well.
The man was secured and hiked out by ambulance personnel and transported to a nearby hospital.
He was issued a summons for third-degree assault at the hospital for striking the paramedic.
His name has not been released.