Bed Stuy: Do or Die (2011)

This powerful documentary takes viewers deep into the gritty streets of Bed-Stuy with a group of modern-day heroes from the Bedford-Stuyvesant Volunteer Ambulance Corps (BSVAC). This is the first minority volunteer run ambulance corp in the United States of America, and it is fighting to stay alive. It all started back in 1988, when gangs ran the streets and the gun was law. Crack use was at an all time high, causing violence and prostitution, and ambulance response times in Bed-Stuy took up to forty minutes, leaving people to die in the gutter. One larger-than-life character, James 'Rocky' Robinson, decided to take action. Working with gang members, alcoholics and drug takers, he taught them that it is better to save a life than to take a life. Together with his volunteers, Rocky has reduced the waiting time for an ambulances to a record breaking four minutes. Always first on the scene, they transport anyone who needs their help to the hospital. But the ambulance corp has fallen on hard times while waiting for a new headquarters, and has been forced to operate out of a tent in an empty lot. And the heat of another summer season is just beginning...