Pittsburgh paramedic fired after snowstorm ordered reinstated with back pay. Arbitrator says Josie Dimon is a 'scapegoat' following the death of Curtis Mitchell.

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A Pittsburgh paramedic fired after a snowstorm a year ago has been ordered reinstated by an arbitrator. Josie Dimon has been awarded 11 months of back pay, with the only punishment a three day suspension.

According to KDKA-TV’s Marty Griffin, the arbitrator finds the city was making Dimon a scapegoat and puts the blame for the poor response on the city’s public safety director.

This was the case of 50-year-old Curtis Mitchell of Hazelwood. His girlfriend called 911 10 times over 30 hours. By the time help arrived Mitchell was dead.

Here’s more in excerpts from KDKA-TV’s article:

In a recording, Dimon talks to another employee about an attempt to get to Curtis Mitchell’s home.

Dimon: “If he ain’t (expletive) coming down, I ain’t waiting all day for him, Kim. What the (expletive). This ain’t no cab service.”

The report will not be made public, but sources tell KDKA Investigator Marty Griffin it calls Dimon a “scape goat.”

The report also blames the incident and lack of response on the city and Public Safety Director Michael Huss.

“If they wish to blame me, that’s okay,” Huss said. “I got broad shoulders.”

The arbitrator also described Hazelwood as a scary neighborhood. That offended Huss.

“I travel through Hazelwood every day,” he said. “I think it’s a nice neighborhood. The people there have always treated myself and the other emergency responders that responded to those communities very well.”

Sources say the report calls the incident the “fiasco of 2010.” Sources say the report said Mitchell could have come towards the ambulance.

Sources also say the report says: “Josie Dimon’s livelihood can’t be wrangled away from her by dangling innuendo.”