A Syracuse man was arrested Monday morning for assaulting an EMT in Mattydale, according to the Onondaga County Sheriff's Office.
Deputies say the assault happened in the Mattydale Fire Department's parking lot after an EMT observed Andrew Kinel, 30, from Syracuse, sitting in a damaged car and approached him to see if he was alright.
Kinel began to physically assault and choke the EMT after he was approached, deputies say.
Dispatchers received an emergency distress call as the incident unfolded, and deputies responded to the area around 7:09 a.m. When they arrived, deputies say they found the injured EMT and Kinel still at the scene.
An investigation found that Kinel had just used his car to burglarize a tobacco shop in East Syracuse, driving the vehicle into the doors of the business to break in and steal nitrous oxide cartridges, or 'whippits', which he inhaled, deputies say.