Paramedic heard boxer say ‘don’t push me’

AN emergency medical technician gave evidence he heard the former boxing champion say to Mr Vodo “don’t push me, don’t keep pushing me” before he was required to tend to Collins’s injured hand.

Joe O’Brien, a paramedic with Medilink, said he “did not see anything” as he was inside the building near the VIP/media access point.

“I was about seven or eight steps away from the door inside the stadium near the elevated area where RTÉ was based,” Mr O’Brien said.

Although he did not see anything, he heard raised voices from the doorway and recognised Steve Collins’ voice. After he heard Collins asking Mr Vodo not to push him he was then asked to go outside the stadium and tend to Collins’ bleeding hand.

“I tried to clean the laceration which was curved around the knuckle of his index finger and he appeared to be fairly calm to me,” said Mr O’Brien.

“He said to me ‘the Russian didn’t know who I was’ a couple of times and I gave him advice to seek medical treatment at St James’ Hospital but he indicated to me that he did not want to go to St James’ on a Saturday night,” said Mr O’Brien.