Paramedics kept busy on Sydney’s New Year’s Eve
While 1.5 million people watched the rainbow appear on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, ‘Operation Vela’, saw 2800 police officers, including general duty officers, mounted police and a riot squad, out in force to see Sydney make a smooth transition into 2012.
A Sydney Morning Herald article said reports from New South Wales Police showed the crowds were well-behaved, but paramedics were kept busy.
A case in hand is the 30-year-old man who became impaled when he tried to jump the fence at Mrs Macquarie’s Point in Sydney’s Botanic Gardens.
An ambulance spokesman said the man was heavily intoxicated and the post had penetrated all the way through his left thigh.
Police Commissioner Mark Murdoch said the man who impaled his leg is in a serious but stable condition.
“A police rescue squad needed to come to his assistance and cut the metal pole from the fence to allow ambulance to take him to hospital,” he told The Sydney Morning Herald.
NSW Police said 102 charges were laid amid the festivities overnight, most for drunk and disorderly behaviour.
“Visits to Hospital emergency departments increase by around 9 percent during the summer holiday period,” said Chair of the NSW branch of the Australian Resuscitation Council, Paul Middleton.
The Lord Mayor Clover Moore said Sydney’s New Year’s Eve is the single biggest annual event which generates $156 million for Sydney’s economy in just one night.
