Family claims slow ambulance response time contributed to Winnipeg restaurant owner’s death

It took some 25 minutes for an ambulance to arrive at the scene of a physical altercation that claimed the life of a Winnipeg restaurant owner last month.

Kyriakos Vogiatzakis’ family believes the 51-year-old would still be alive if care arrived sooner.

“911 failed our family and the City of Winnipeg miserably,” said Mike Vogiatzakis, the man’s brother.

“My brother was on the street for 25 minutes without care.”

Police say Kyriakos, the owner of Cork and Flame on Portage Avenue in Kirkfield, was pushed to the ground outside his restaurant and assaulted until he lost consciousness on Jan. 24.

He was taken to hospital in critical condition, where he died.

Winnipeg police say they were called around 5:30 p.m. for the incident. Police declined to comment when asked at what time crews arrived on scene.

The City of Winnipeg tells CityNews a WFPS firetruck with a firefighter-paramedic on board arrived at 5:42 p.m. But they were only allowed to enter the scene around 5:49 p.m. because they first had to get confirmation from police that it was safe for them to do so.

The city says an ambulance arrived at 5:55 p.m. but a second one was needed and arrived at 5:58 p.m. because of another medical emergency at the same location.

Vogiatzakis alleges the second ambulance had to be called due to the first one not having a working defibrillator.

“Shouldn’t 911 check their equipment before they leave the station?” said Vogiatzakis.

In a statement, the city claims “all equipment used at the scene that day was operating correctly.”

With photos of his brother lined up in front of him Tuesday, Vogiatzakis called for better emergency response times.

“My brother is gone, and we can’t bring him back,” he said. “But there’s other citizens that need 911 and they need to be there for us when we call them.”

Vogiatzakis is also blaming the criminal justice system for not handing down stiffer penalties against the accused in the case of his brother’s death.

Court records show the accused has an extensive criminal record, which included being convicted with possessing a weapon dangerous to the public peace, theft of a motor vehicle, mischief to property under $5,000, impaired driving, and obstructing and resisting a police officer.

Police charged the 38-year-old with manslaughter in connection with Kyriakos’ death.

“It’s easy to understand the first rationale people can have sometimes, particularly when there is a person who is on bail who then goes on to commit another offence,” said Frank Cormier, a sociology and criminology professor at the University of Manitoba.

“But the alternative to that, the only way to ensure that never happens is to lockup every person who has ever been accused of a crime. I don’t think very many people would agree that’s a reasonable way to proceed.”