Posted on 06/16/2009 1:10:08 PM PDT by Eddings
OKLAHOMA CITY — The paramedic who scuffled with an Oklahoma highway police officer while a patient waited inside the ambulance says the trooper should lose his badge.
Maurice White Jr. said Tuesday on the CBS "Early Show" that trooper Daniel Martin was in a state of rage when he stopped his ambulance and totally disregarded the patient's safety.
Martin stopped the ambulance May 24 for failing to yield.
White says he got out of the ambulance to tell the trooper they were taking a patient to the hospital. The argument quickly escalated into a scuffle and Martin put White in a choke hold.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I couldn’t tell who was at fault, but there sure were a lot of black people coming up to protect their EMT against the white cop.
I have a theory that police who have their wives or girlfriend in the car with them tend to be more belligerent because they don’t want to look weak.
FOX had the trooper’s dash cam video over the weekend. In my opinion that cop should be fired immedialtely. He pulled over an ambulance carrying what they thought was a heart attack victim for failure to yield to an emergency vehicle! Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t an ambulance carryling a patient the REAL emergency vehicle???? Where the hell was the cop going in such a damned hurry? Obviously no place important since he had so much time to abuse these two EMT’s who were trying to care for their patient! All the cop cared about was that HE was being disrespected by the EMT’s. He didn’t give one care about the man in the ambulance who could have been dying while all this was going on. The guy is a disgrace and threat to public safety as long as he sits with a gun behind a badge.
I don’t see how the cop can’t be held responsible, having seen the videos.
Although I want to have some sympathy for him because of how many people came and surrounded him while he was talking to the EMT.
He may have been afraid.
The officer was out of line and should have IMMEDIATELY ASKED THE DRIVER to talk to the EMT or Doctor on board.
Well, you're right about that. Peeing in the coffee of the local EMTs is a bad move for any cop to make.
Weeee! I’m back!
Of course they were concerned.
The cop, on the other hand, was not at all concerned with the patient!
Go hang out at StormFront.....Black or white the officer was wrong. I'd have EMT White stand for me any day before a POS like you.
Best to watch the two primary films ~ particularly the one showing the ambulance off in the distance going down the highway at the speed limit.
When I was young, I used to always cite the 1% that gives the 99% a bad name. The older I get, the lower that number falls. I think I’m now worried about those rare, bad cops who give the other 20% a bad name. (I still think those 20% are heroes, though.)
Those black people were relatives following their loved one to the hospital. They were very restrained i thought. Manyt people would punch the cop, impeding the ambulance taking their mom to the hospital. He would have probably shot em in return, but he did deserve a punch in the nose.
What does their race have to do with it? And did you just post to mention the fact that you have nothing to add to the discussion, but you saw a lot of black people?
After the Civil War all the slaves on the Indian lands were freed. Most were included as members of the various tribes in the Dawes Rolls.
Although their current membership is subject to some debate, an awful lot of the black people on those Indian reservations and reserves are INDIAN NATION CITIZENS.
My own thought is that the officer thought he had a bunch of African-Americans out joyriding in an ambulance, not a bunch of African-Creek out accompanying a family member to the hospital.
He was wrong!
Bovine waste!!!
I’ve seen the recording from the officer’s car camera. The officer was unreasonable and out of control. He needs to find a different job.
That statement by the professional should insure the little control freak is out the door.
I agree that once the confrontation was started, the cops response to a confrontation was reasonable, although I do not know the legality of the chokehold. IF you are making a traffic stop, and you can’t control the situation, you can quickly land in a whole lot of trouble, and I would certainly expect the cop to use physical force to subdue a passenger interfering with him issuing a violation to a driver.
The problem is that the cop was storming off in a wild fit of rage without just cause, and the “passenger” in this case did have cause to defend the driver, and the cop should have known that. Getting flipped the bird may have been what motivated the policeman’s abuse of power, but it strikes me as legally irrelevant. Flipping of a cop is stupid, but legal. Chasing down an ambulance, calling for emergency back-up, and trumping up a “violation” as an excuse is horrible.
10-1 the cop went ballistic because it was a black guy. I hope the cop’s wife gets a case of jungle fever. But there’s no need to play the race card. Whatever the cop’s motivation was, his actions were simply detestable.
No doubt these cross-service interactions can be tricky.
But look at this from Officer Neckvein’s point of view.
He is responding to an emergency call of his own. He goes to pass an ambulance that has neither lights or sirens going, and the ambulance fails to yeild and the driver gives him the finger.
Ambulances may be special, but they ain’t that special.
He goes to stop the ambulance, and let’s look at what happens.
As he approaches the vehicle, a man comes out of the back and says “No, you now... What’s going on?”
The officer proceeds to the cab of the vehicle to talk to the driver, who is the one who refused to yield and (presumably) the one who gave him the finger.
When Officer Neckvein says he is going to talk to the driver, this unidentified man says “No, no, I’t talking to you...”, and physically gets in the officer’s way. At this point, the officer tells him to get back in the vehicle. The unidentified man does not comply.
At this point, EMT White identifies himself and starts to argue the merits of the traffic stop, a he said/she said about whether or not the officer was coming up on them too fast, as if this matter is going to be resolved right there on the side of the road.
By that time, things are out of control, people are all over the place, and the officer is going to have to arrest somebody to get things back in hand.
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