Brooklyn man released one day after attacking two EMS members, outraged union says.

A man who chased and beat two paramedics giving him medical treatment was back on the street the next day, outraging an Emergency Medical Service union leader who says more needs to be done to protect his members. Paramedics Robert Hart and Hector Soto were called to a Lexington Ave. home in Bedford-Stuyvesant about 11 a.m. on Oct. 2 where they found Steven Prescod, 29, suffering from an apparent drug overdose, police said.

The two paramedics were treating Prescod in their ambulance when he lashed out and began beating both men, according to court papers. Hart ran out of the ambulance, but Prescod chased him down the block and continued to pummel the first responder with his fists, according to police. Cops arrested Prescod at the scene for second degree assault, menacing, obstructing emergency medical service and other charges, cops said. A Brooklyn criminal court judge ordered Prescod released without bail following a brief arraignment proceeding the next day, even though second-degree assault is a bail-eligible offense.

A spokesman for the Brooklyn District Attorney's office said no bail was requested in light of the crisis on Rikers Island and that Prescod had no warrant history or prior cases of violence. Prescod's release nevertheless infuriated Oren Barzilay, the president of EMS Local 2507, who said that more and more EMTs and paramedics are being attacked while rendering aid.

"So many members are being assaulted and injured, it's causing a shortage of EMTs out there," Barzilay said. "By not prosecuting these people you are in effect slowing the city's response to medical emergencies."

An inquiry with Prescod's lawyer was not returned.