WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) – A former Watertown City School Board member and community leader is charged with shoving a police officer at a local restaurant during a medical emergency.<\/p>\n
City police arrested 60-year-old Milagros \u201cMilly\u201d Smith on Wednesday night. She was charged with second-degree harassment – physical contact.<\/p>\n
She was issued a ticket to appear in city court on February 23.<\/p>\n
Smith is well known in the community; she\u2019s the chief physician assistant at QuikMed Urgent Care in Watertown and a former member of the city school district\u2019s board of education.<\/p>\n
What happened?<\/p>\n
Two different accounts of what happened have emerged. What\u2019s not in dispute is that a man started choking at Pete\u2019s Restaurant in Watertown on January 17. The Heimlich maneuver and CPR were performed. He survived.<\/p>\n
Milly Smith\u2019s account<\/p>\n
7 News spoke with Smith in January after the incident. She said a man started choking and patrons at the restaurant started to act, herself included. She said she performed the Heimlich maneuver and was about to change to CPR because the man turned blue. <\/p>\n
According to Smith, first responders showed up about 10 minutes into the emergency. She identified herself to them as police tried to clear the area.<\/p>\n
7 News reached out to Smith on Thursday, but she said her attorney, Todd Doldo, advised her against commenting.<\/p>\n
The police department\u2019s account<\/p>\n
Watertown Police Department Detective Lieutenant Joseph Giaquinto said he had no information that Smith performed the Heimlich maneuver or CPR. He said Officer Sereenah George, who\u2019s also an EMT, performed the Heimlich maneuver on the man.<\/p>\n
According to Giaquinto, when EMTs from the fire department arrived, they took over the life-saving efforts and Officer George tried to clear the area to give them room. <\/p>\n
He said Officer George held her arms up to push the crowd back. <\/p>\n
Milly Smith allegedly knocked the officer\u2019s arm out of the way and pushed past her, saying, \u201cHere, let me swipe his mouth,\u201d and, \u201cI\u2019m a doctor.\u201d <\/p>\n
Giaquinto said Officer George noted that finger sweeping of the mouth is no longer practiced in cases like this. <\/p>\n
He also said Officer George was wearing a body camera at the time. He added that he had not reviewed the footage.<\/p>\n
Smith\u2019s arrest<\/p>\n
According to the arrest report, Officer George and another police officer went to Smith\u2019s home at 9:43 p.m. on Wednesday to charge her with harassment.<\/p>\n
Giaquinto said it\u2019s not unusual for the same officer named in the complaint to be the arresting officer.<\/p>\n
Smith was issued a ticket to appear in city court on February 23.<\/p>\n
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