“He should be fired for a more basic reason.”
Again the criminal was NOT the responding officer. He was NOT a cop in the city where the accident happened. He was a bystander who happened upon an automobile accident and assaulted the driver of the car.
It just so happens that the criminal is a police officer in ANOTHER town. That is pretty much irrelevant to this incident other than presuming more knowledge on the part of the criminal than other persons. Of course the prosecutor may give this criminal more leeway than some other criminal because he is a cop some place else.
As with most crimes, the criminal also committed a tort. He will likely be sued for that and his employment should have nothing to do with the tort case, except of course he is probably more experienced in perjury than the average person in tort trial.
Not exactly.
Hedricks and his wife were in/at the house where the accident occurred as his wife was attending a party/event there.
The vehicle hit the house near where his wife was standing.
Hedricks pulled the driver from his vehicle.
Pretty clearly a case of “you could have hurt my wife so I will bring the full authority of my position down on you.”
I have the greatest respect for Law Enforcement officials who are as professional and respectful as individual incidents allow them to be.
Any official who abuses their position, I am more than happy to help them decide to find a new career path.
If citizens would use the power of the Citizens Complaint system, many officers who should be fry cooks at Mickey D’s would be off the force.
Not saying it is easy or quick, but little worthwhile is.
However in his city of employment, he was trained to be a responding officer.
Therefore he should have been careful to determine if the driver was injured or incapacitated due to a health problem.
Unless the driver reeked of the smell of alcohol or a pile of empty beer cans rolled out when he opened the door, the off duty cop was not acting properly.
In any accident, the first duty is to the injured and that requires that he determine whether there are any injured.