A teenage binge drinker has been jailed for an attack on an ambulance paramedic which has left him too shocked to return to front line duty.
Dieter Reid lashed out at an ambulance crew after they complained they were not a taxi service for drunkards and hit victim Trevor Wayborn so hard across the temple he needed hospital treatment.
The 19-year-old was so drunk he could not stand up when the crew found him outside a night club in Bideford, North Devon.
When the two paramedics told him he should not have called an ambulance just because he was incapable of walking home he became abusive.
He replied:"Get over it, I'm just pissed. It's your f***ing job." He told female paramedic Alice Box:"F*** off you bitch and just do your f***ing job."
Unemployed Reid, of Barton Tors, Bideford, was jailed for six months in a Young Offenders' Institution at Exeter Crown Court by Recorder Mr Jonathan Fuller, QC, who told him that members of the emergency services need to be protected.
He said:"This happened at night when you were drunk and members of a public service came to assist you. All they got was abuse and ultimately physical violence.
"Paramedics, just like doctors and nurses in hospitals, have to be protected from drunken behaviour and to that extent an element of deterrence is needed in a case like this.
"It is very sad that someone of your age, who is spoken of so highly, has got themselves into this position. You are of good character and have genuine remorse and are deeply ashamed of what you have done."
Miss Felicity Payne, prosecuting, said the two paramedics were called to Mill Street in Bideford shortly after midnight on October 20 and eventually found Reid slumped nearby.
They picked him up and started helping him to the ambulance but he became abusive after they told him he should not have called them out.
Reid swung at Miss Box and as Mr Wayborn pulled him away he swung round with both hands together and hit a hard punch to his temple.
Miss Box later told police:"He went full throttle at Trevor. He spun round on a sixpence with both hands together and delivered a double punch."
The impact left the paramedic dazed and the crew feared they were about to be attacked when three friends of Reid advanced at them down the road before carrying the drunken man away.
Mr Wayborn suffered nausea and dizziness and spent a night in hospital under observation and has been receiving psychological counselling for more than six months.
Miss Payne said he has been diagnosed as suffering post traumatic stress and has been unable to return to work as a paramedic and is currently employed as a call handler by the ambulance trust.
She said:"There is a community impact not just because this was an assault on a paramedic, but also because the community have been deprived of his skills."
Mr Richard Crabb, defending, said Reid was so drunk he had little memory of what happened but is full of remorse and terrified of going to jail.
He said:"Judging by the character references we have received, what he did that night was totally out of character. He is not the sort of young man to go out causing trouble and he normally does not drink.
"He had too much to drink that night. It is nobody's fault but his own and he understands he should not have called 999. He would like to apologise in person and shake Mr Wayborn's hand.
"He is a somewhat unworldly young man who, according to the probation report, would struggle to cope with custody."
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