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Cop Pulls Over Ambulance Carrying Patient To Hospital For “Failure To Yield”

BmanMcfly

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Cop Pulls Over Ambulance Carrying Patient To Hospital For “Failure To Yield”

It’s pretty clear to me that the EMT blew off the cop who was trying to arrest him, and technically I suppose that’s resisting arrest, but given the circumstances the one cop (at least) seems out of control.

This is just so shocking I just don't know what to say...

YouTube - Oklahoma Highway Patrol fight with EMT

If this EMT gets charged, if there is any justice left in this world, the cop will also face charges for his crime.
 
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Re: Cop pulls over ambulance

Was the siren on the ambulance activated? If not, it's no different than a regular car.
 
Re: Cop pulls over ambulance

From what I can tell the troopers, while in within their authority to pull the ambulance over, acted totally unprofessional. Pulling over an ambulance is one thing, but this is should never have went down like it did. Once they realized the ambulance was transporting a patient they should have simply followed the ambulance to the E.R. and worked it out there.

Unprofessional to say the least, reckless abandonment of common sense is more like it in my opinion.

Here is the paramedics statement, I assume to his employer. It's got a few mistakes in it but it's well written, the man seems quite intelligent.
 
Re: Cop pulls over ambulance

Was the siren on the ambulance activated? If not, it's no different than a regular car.

what????

The fact that it carries people to the hospital in times of emergencies makes it very different from any regular car.

Even if the siren was off, after the police officer have seen that they indeed had a patient in the ambulance, they should have let them go right away. Instead of taking up time writing them a ticket and yelling that they were being arrested, they should have escorted the ambulance if the ambulance's siren was not working.

I think the police officers here totally assessed the situation incorrectly.
 
Re: Cop pulls over ambulance

what????

The fact that it carries people to the hospital in times of emergencies makes it very different from any regular car.

Even if the siren was off, after the police officer have seen that they indeed had a patient in the ambulance, they should have let them go right away. Instead of taking up time writing them a ticket and yelling that they were being arrested, they should have escorted the ambulance if the ambulance's siren was not working.

I think the police officers here totally assessed the situation incorrectly.

I agree. All this trooper had to do was ask if they were transporting a patient, instead he chose to assert his authority. Obviously they had radio contact as they admonished the ambulance driver to check his mirrors.

The guy should be reprimanded and suspended without pay for a few days. And I think an apology to the family and the paramedic is in order.
 
Re: Cop pulls over ambulance

what????

The fact that it carries people to the hospital in times of emergencies makes it very different from any regular car.

Even if the siren was off, after the police officer have seen that they indeed had a patient in the ambulance, they should have let them go right away. Instead of taking up time writing them a ticket and yelling that they were being arrested, they should have escorted the ambulance if the ambulance's siren was not working.

I think the police officers here totally assessed the situation incorrectly.

I'm not saying that the cops shouldn't have used common sense, but ambulance drivers are not magical beings that get to flout traffic laws whenever they want. If they wanted to do that, they should have became cops.
 
Re: Cop pulls over ambulance

Was the siren on the ambulance activated? If not, it's no different than a regular car.
I'm an EMT, and I can say that this would be the case here. (Laws vary, from region to region.) Also we avoid such problems by working very closely with the police.

I can't use my pathetically limited bandwidth just now for the video, but does anyone know what the condition of the patient was, and what sort of treatment they were going for?
 
Re: Cop pulls over ambulance

I'm not saying that the cops shouldn't have used common sense, but ambulance drivers are not magical beings that get to flout traffic laws whenever they want. If they wanted to do that, they should have became cops.

I don't think these guys were actually flouting traffic laws. They did pull out of the way of the patrol car once they noticed it. With today's passenger compartments insulated like they are it's hard to here a police car siren until it gets close. In the cab of an ambulance it's worse because of the open compartment design. They are actually quite noisy.
 
Re: Cop pulls over ambulance

Was the siren on the ambulance activated? If not, it's no different than a regular car.

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Re: Cop pulls over ambulance

From what I can tell the troopers, while in within their authority to pull the ambulance over, acted totally unprofessional. Pulling over an ambulance is one thing, but this is should never have went down like it did. Once they realized the ambulance was transporting a patient they should have simply followed the ambulance to the E.R. and worked it out there.

Unprofessional to say the least, reckless abandonment of common sense is more like it in my opinion.

Here is the paramedics statement, I assume to his employer. It's got a few mistakes in it but it's well written, the man seems quite intelligent.

I can't open it, can you quote it please?
 
Re: Cop pulls over ambulance

I'm not saying that the cops shouldn't have used common sense, but ambulance drivers are not magical beings that get to flout traffic laws whenever they want. If they wanted to do that, they should have became cops.
Well, we aren't allowed to flout traffic laws, of course. But we are magical beings. I shouldn't have to point this out.
 
Re: Cop pulls over ambulance

I'm an EMT, and I can say that this would be the case here. (Laws vary, from region to region.) Also we avoid such problems by working very closely with the police.

I can't use my pathetically limited bandwidth just now for the video, but does anyone know what the condition of the patient was, and what sort of treatment they were going for?

I have no idea what the medical condition was. The lady appears to be older by the sound of her voice. The patrol car was apparently right on the ass of the ambulance with no siren activated. The driver couldn't see the patrol car due to the blind spot. The other paramedic who was in the back of the rig saw the care through the back window and told him to pull to the side and let the trooper around.

Those box rigs do have terrible blind spots directly behind them. Cops cars have sirens for a reason. And in many states there is some measure of legal defense to the "failure to yield to an emergency vehicle" if they don't have both visible emergency lights and audible siren activated. That's why when I pulled people over with just lights and they didn't stop for a bit I always hit my siren and never wrote them for fail to yield. I knew that the charge would not stick.
 
Re: Cop pulls over ambulance

Well, we aren't allowed to flout traffic laws, of course. But we are magical beings. I shouldn't have to point this out.

And these guys weren't flouting traffic laws at all. The driver simply didn't see the patrol car because it was following too close, in his blind spot, with no siren activated.
 
Re: Cop pulls over ambulance

It won't let me copy or paste, it's the way the PDF is setup.

That's why I never link to PDFs ;)

What key words did you use to search for it? I may be able to find an HTML version.
 
Re: Cop pulls over ambulance

I do agree that if the lights are off that it would be a different story... but the story would be more along the lines of the cop over-reacting in this situation... especially when according to the EMT that the cop insinuated or threatened deadly force.

Then, within the EMT's statement, it is quite disturbing that none of the officers would help this EMT to place the assault charges against the officer...

Especially if this EMT gets charged, I would hope to see this cop go behind bars as well and let justice be served on all ends. Having seen other situtions where cops break the law, and get a week to a month off work with pay... and worse, I've even heard of officers getting promoted for doing wrong.
 
Re: Cop pulls over ambulance

Those box rigs do have terrible blind spots directly behind them.
Tell me about it!

When I back our ambulance I picture things like a small child on a tricycle right behind the wheel.
 
Re: Cop pulls over ambulance

That's why I never link to PDFs ;)

What key words did you use to search for it? I may be able to find an HTML version.

Oklahoma trooper pulls over ambulance.
 
Re: Cop pulls over ambulance

Here's an excerpt from the EMT's statement.

One last very disturbing Fact. After we had arrived at Prague hospital, officer 606 told my partner, Paul Franks that he had determined in his mind to escalate to pulling out his service revolver and using deadly force. Again, this was all due to the mistaken idea that he (606) had been “flipped off.” I find it very disconcerting to know that a person of this temperament is allowed to patrol our streets while possessing the profound responsibility of having the use of deadly force at his disposal.
 
Re: Cop pulls over ambulance

what????

The fact that it carries people to the hospital in times of emergencies makes it very different from any regular car.

Even if the siren was off, after the police officer have seen that they indeed had a patient in the ambulance, they should have let them go right away. Instead of taking up time writing them a ticket and yelling that they were being arrested, they should have escorted the ambulance if the ambulance's siren was not working.

I think the police officers here totally assessed the situation incorrectly.

In the eyes of the law, it's no different than a regular car without the siren activated.
 
Re: Cop pulls over ambulance

There is no culpable mental state here with regard to this crime. No reckless behavior on the part of the driver. I predict this guy will not get charged.
 
Re: Cop pulls over ambulance

I'm going to side with the cops on this one.

IMO the cops were in the wrong for issuing the ticket because they did not use a siren and were in the ambulance's blind spot.

However, I know of no statute which gives EMTs the authority to ignore a police officer and attempt to leave.

The correct coarse of action would be to show up in court and fight the ticket.

I don't think the troopers acted unprofessionally in this situation. They're cops on the street fighting an irate, very muscular man. You can't expect it to look like a boardroom setting.
 
Re: Cop pulls over ambulance

In the eyes of the law, it's no different than a regular car without the siren activated.

And that's not in dispute here. The officers lack of good judgment and his bullying after the stop are the real story. I was a cop for 14 years and never would I have done something like this.

Never.
 
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