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 ...
BTW, I stole the nervous tic line from you and thought you would recognize who the object was.
Friends?
No fair what-iffing my what ifs!
But, seriesly, folks... Could Officer Neckvein have handled this thing better? Of course he could have. He could have been much more low key and dealt directly with EMT White, and the whole thing might have worked out much better.
But where I get off the bandwagon is in calling for Officer Neckvein to be fired, or prosecuted, or drawn and quartered, or whatever. The whole situation is unfortunate, but ten minutes of videotape should not end a career or land a man in jail, unless it proves he was breaking the law or doing something completely out-of-line.
So the question is, were Officer Neckvein's actions so outrageous, or even illegal, that he deserves some kind of severe punishment?
To my mind, the situation escalated way too quickly and an opportunity for a more calm and measured outcome was lost. But I will not fault the officer for trying to control the traffic stop and keep people in the vehicle. That is really basic stuff. I will not fault the officer for wanting to talk directly to the driver, unless somebody can demonstrate that he was breaking the law by doing so. And I will not condemn the officer for applying a choke hold that he did not, in fact, apply.
So I am not saying that Officer Neckvein should be put up for Office Of The Year based on this performance. If his supervisor has seen this sort of behavior from him in the past, or thinks it falls into a pattern, he probably should take some action to intervene. But that would be a matter for the supervisor to decide, based on his extensive experience with Officer Neckvein.
Of if he broke the law, throw the book at him. I'm OK with that. If he broke the law.
What, of course...
I sympathize with your post but officer Neckvein needs psychological help and should not be in a position of authority as a LEO
hugs!
That may be true. I would certainly hope that his supervisor sees this video and asks himself whether it falls into a pattern that might indicate that Officer Neckvein might need some help, or might not have the right temper for his job.
Like I said, 10 minutes of video is not enough to make that call.
Trademarking your idea as I type LOL
It would make a good show, but you would have to have a driver in a armored car to carry you around.
For life.
Uneasy with black people Charles?
It has long since stop amazing me when cops make excuses for their fellow “brothers’ no matter what. I am betting you are a cop.
Nope. I am an engineer.
I watched the entire video released by the Oklahoma Highway patrol. The PD officer is a dick. He’s enraged because the ambulance didn’t pull over to let him pass on his way to a call, he doesn’t even stay at. He’s completely unreasonable and belligerent from the start. The paramedic trys to reason with him, pointing out they have a patient they are transporting to the hospital, and the cop just rants on. Then he wants to arrest the paramedic WHO IS CARING FOR A PATIENT. Any reasonable rational cop would at least let them complete the transport and follow them to the hospital and pick it up there.
He's a cop so I would guess not!
The LEO must know that they have a "Code 2" response, which means no lights and sirens ("Code 3" is lights and sirens). Why wouldn't he assume that there is something similar with ambulances? In fact, the codes are different, but the classifications are very similar.
-PJ
The police officer was too quick to anger. He definitely needs to quit this job. He can’t handle the stress.
That’s only the tail end of it. Have you watched the entire video from the dashcam?
I have and from watching the entire thing, I am convinced the trooper was out of control and should be fired.
The EMT was responsible for the treatment of his patient. That means getting the patient to the hospital as quickly as possible. In order to do that, he needed to explain the situation to the state trooper. That is why he got out of the vehicle.
The proper response of the trooper would have been to escort the ambulance to the hospital and then deal with the event after the patient was off-loaded.
I can’t believe you would boil this down to race.
You've obviously never been pulled over for DWI.
Driving While Indian.
It’s the 80/20 rule.
80% of one’s time is spent dealing with 20% of the people.
(IE - those 20% are the screw-ups and the dirtballs.)
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