Brooklyn Prosecutor Arrested in Assault of Emergency Medical Technician

A prosecutor in the Brooklyn district attorney's office was arrested early Saturday and charged with assaulting an emergency worker in an ambulance that was bringing him to a Manhattan hospital, the authorities said.

A police spokesman said that the prosecutor, Michael Jaccarino, was crossing Brooklyn Bridge on foot around 1 a.m., when an ambulance picked him up. It was not immediately known why the ambulance was called, but the police said Mr. Jaccarino seemed to be intoxicated.

As the ambulance was taking Mr. Jaccarino to Beth Israel Medical Center, the police said, he began unstrapping a belt that secured him to a stretcher inside the vehicle. When an emergency medical technician tried to restrain him, a police spokesman said, “he strikes her in the right side of the face.”

A moment later, the police spokesman added: “He holds her down by choking her.”

The technician, who was not identified, suffered bruises to her right cheek, right wrist and chest, the police said. A Fire Department spokesman said that an emergency medical technician was treated at Beth Israel and released. The spokesman said he had no further information.

Mr. Jaccarino, 30, was charged with assault, criminal obstruction of breathing, menacing and harassment.

Jerry Schmetterer, the chief spokesman for the Brooklyn district attorney, Charles J. Hynes, said that Mr. Jaccarino had begun working in Mr. Hynes' office as an assistant district attorney in 2008.

“He's been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation,” Mr. Schmetterer added.

Information on file with the New York State Office of Court Administration said that Mr. Jaccarino graduated from the State University of New York Buffalo Law School.