• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Highway Patrol Chokes Ambulance Driver On Tape

Page 5 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
After watching all three videos it appears ALL PARTIES acted poorly. The cop could have handled it better but so could have the paramedics. Both sides instead of acting rationally kept escalating the situation.

Cop legally pulled over ambulance.
Cop yells at the driver and tries to give him a ticket.
Paramedic in the back tells him to stop, that he cannot talk to the driver.
Cop is legally allowed to talk to driver.
Cop sees paramedic in the back as interfering with police business as he gets out of the vehicle. Just as with any traffic stop, you ARE NOT supposed to get out of the vehicle unless asked to. Escalates from there.

The whole choking incident happened because the paramedic made a movement towards the cop with his right arm. The cop reacted. The paramedic reacted back. The cop reacted back.

The cop won't get fired, he used bad judgement, but he didnt do anything illegal. He'll probably ride a desk for the rest of his career though.



 
Originally posted by: LS21
imagine what an asshole the average person on the street is

imagine if someone gave that person a badge

letssee.. if i was a bright, promising, intelligent young student, would i rather a) go through 4+ years of college and pursue a professional job or B) slack off for 2 years in community college and then troll around in a uniform and patrol car...
Click to expand...

Imagine how many of those you get when you live in a city where cops make $70k a year STARTING.
 
Originally posted by: SSSnail
Oh please, quit with the ridiculous posturings and conjectures.

Fact - the ambulance had plenty of time to pull over. A car IN FRONT of it pulled over before the ambulance did. That would make the ambulance driver oblivious to the road conditions, or was he?

Fact - the ambulance wasn't running hot

Fact - it took 30 seconds for the patrol car to catch up to the ambulance, quit with the "OH HE CHASED HIM DOWN" semantics.

Fact - the medic was supposed to stay with the patient. The state trooper was addressing the driver.

Fact - the medic was ordered back inside his cabin, where he should have been. He disobeyed.

Fact - You don't know shit about what EMTs can and cannot do, quit talking like you do.

Fact - You don't know what belligerent means.

Now, argue the facts.
Click to expand...


Since I'm an EMT, I will.

The lightest ambulance in the fleet where I work weighs 5 tons. You don't just stop 10,000lbs like it's nothing. Especially if your partner is in the back with a patient. It doesn't take much to send your partner flying into the side of the squad and ending up with a head injury. The car in front of the squad pulled over quickly because it could. If the squad pulled aside at the same time as the car, he more than likely would have plowed into the back of the car. You don't just hit the brakes and pull over immediately in a squad. If the cop was expecting that squad to pull over right away, he's never been in a moving ambulance before.

There's also a good chance that the driver didn't hear the sirens because a diesel V8 with a big metal box mounted to the back of it is rather loud. Add in the ventilation fan or a nebulizer breathing treatment and you couldn't hear world war three. There have been days when we're enroute and I can't even hear my partner next to me because of the noise. Visibility out of the rear view mirror is practically non-existant in some squads. Most of the time I'm looking at a jump bag or the back of the squad chair for the medic in the back.

Yes the medic should have stayed with the patient, I'm not going to argue that. However, here's where it gets complex. If their EMS protocols are anything like mine, whoever is administering patient care is in charge of the squad and is responsible for all paperwork/patient info sharing/LEO handling. The medic in the back is in charge and is who should be addressing the cop.

With all that said, yeah both sides didn't handle things the best but for the cop to go after the squad like that because they didn't move over instantly is a bit stupid. Let's have him drive an ambulance and see how he handles it.

For what it's worth, every time I've run hot there have been people that didn't move out of my way. After I was clear of my call, I didn't go after them and flip out on them. That's not sane behavior.
 
Like Spidey, I usually side with the cops in these things (though not always), because the citizens usually accelerate and cause most of the problems.

In this case, the cop needs to be fired - now. He was the instigator and cause of the conflict in this instance and does not need to be carrying a gun with those kind of temper control problems.
 
Originally posted by: Kaervak
Originally posted by: SSSnail
Oh please, quit with the ridiculous posturings and conjectures.

Fact - the ambulance had plenty of time to pull over. A car IN FRONT of it pulled over before the ambulance did. That would make the ambulance driver oblivious to the road conditions, or was he?

Fact - the ambulance wasn't running hot

Fact - it took 30 seconds for the patrol car to catch up to the ambulance, quit with the "OH HE CHASED HIM DOWN" semantics.

Fact - the medic was supposed to stay with the patient. The state trooper was addressing the driver.

Fact - the medic was ordered back inside his cabin, where he should have been. He disobeyed.

Fact - You don't know shit about what EMTs can and cannot do, quit talking like you do.

Fact - You don't know what belligerent means.

Now, argue the facts.
Click to expand...


Since I'm an EMT, I will.

The lightest ambulance in the fleet where I work weighs 5 tons. You don't just stop 10,000lbs like it's nothing. Especially if your partner is in the back with a patient. It doesn't take much to send your partner flying into the side of the squad and ending up with a head injury. The car in front of the squad pulled over quickly because it could. If the squad pulled aside at the same time as the car, he more than likely would have plowed into the back of the car. You don't just hit the brakes and pull over immediately in a squad. If the cop was expecting that squad to pull over right away, he's never been in a moving ambulance before.

There's also a good chance that the driver didn't hear the sirens because a diesel V8 with a big metal box mounted to the back of it is rather loud. Add in the ventilation fan or a nebulizer breathing treatment and you couldn't hear world war three. There have been days when we're enroute and I can't even hear my partner next to me because of the noise. Visibility out of the rear view mirror is practically non-existant in some squads. Most of the time I'm looking at a jump bag or the back of the squad chair for the medic in the back.

Yes the medic should have stayed with the patient, I'm not going to argue that. However, here's where it gets complex. If their EMS protocols are anything like mine, whoever is administering patient care is in charge of the squad and is responsible for all paperwork/patient info sharing/LEO handling. The medic in the back is in charge and is who should be addressing the cop.

With all that said, yeah both sides didn't handle things the best but for the cop to go after the squad like that because they didn't move over instantly is a bit stupid. Let's have him drive an ambulance and see how he handles it.

For what it's worth, every time I've run hot there have been people that didn't move out of my way. After I was clear of my call, I didn't go after them and flip out on them. That's not sane behavior.
Click to expand...
Good thing the coward cop didn't go though with his threat of arresting the Medics because it would be This All Over Again.

 
Originally posted by: Kaervak
If their EMS protocols are anything like mine, whoever is administering patient care is in charge of the squad and is responsible for all paperwork/patient info sharing/LEO handling. The medic in the back is in charge and is who should be addressing the cop.
Click to expand...

I wonder if the cop is aware of this. TBO if I pulled someone over and a person got out of the back of a vehicle like that (even an ambulance) and approached me like he did I would immediately but put on guard

 
Looks like a racist, elitist, bunch of cops trying to show there authority. /cartman

Medics have priority on a medical call, if that patient suffered due to this the police are in for a HUGE lawsuit.

In my time we have always gotten along just fine, this should never happen. (I am thinking race on this, given its location.)
 
P.S. OP, there is no such thing as an "ambulance driver" anymore, all people on the ambulance are EMT's or above. Call me an ambulance driver and the next thing you see will be the back of the ambulance and a lot of trauma dressings. With any luck I will do a nasal intubation.

Google nasal intubation and you will see how much fun it is, used to do it quite often.
 
Originally posted by: 911paramedic
P.S. OP, there is no such thing as an "ambulance driver" anymore, all people on the ambulance are EMT's or above. Call me an ambulance driver and the next thing you see will be the back of the ambulance and a lot of trauma dressings. With any luck I will do a nasal intubation.

Google nasal intubation and you will see how much fun it is, used to do it quite often.
Click to expand...

you're so intimidating

 
Originally posted by: Kaervak
Originally posted by: SSSnail
Oh please, quit with the ridiculous posturings and conjectures.

Fact - the ambulance had plenty of time to pull over. A car IN FRONT of it pulled over before the ambulance did. That would make the ambulance driver oblivious to the road conditions, or was he?

Fact - the ambulance wasn't running hot

Fact - it took 30 seconds for the patrol car to catch up to the ambulance, quit with the "OH HE CHASED HIM DOWN" semantics.

Fact - the medic was supposed to stay with the patient. The state trooper was addressing the driver.

Fact - the medic was ordered back inside his cabin, where he should have been. He disobeyed.

Fact - You don't know shit about what EMTs can and cannot do, quit talking like you do.

Fact - You don't know what belligerent means.

Now, argue the facts.
Click to expand...


Since I'm an EMT, I will.

The lightest ambulance in the fleet where I work weighs 5 tons. You don't just stop 10,000lbs like it's nothing. Especially if your partner is in the back with a patient. It doesn't take much to send your partner flying into the side of the squad and ending up with a head injury. The car in front of the squad pulled over quickly because it could. If the squad pulled aside at the same time as the car, he more than likely would have plowed into the back of the car. You don't just hit the brakes and pull over immediately in a squad. If the cop was expecting that squad to pull over right away, he's never been in a moving ambulance before.

There's also a good chance that the driver didn't hear the sirens because a diesel V8 with a big metal box mounted to the back of it is rather loud. Add in the ventilation fan or a nebulizer breathing treatment and you couldn't hear world war three. There have been days when we're enroute and I can't even hear my partner next to me because of the noise. Visibility out of the rear view mirror is practically non-existant in some squads. Most of the time I'm looking at a jump bag or the back of the squad chair for the medic in the back.

Yes the medic should have stayed with the patient, I'm not going to argue that. However, here's where it gets complex. If their EMS protocols are anything like mine, whoever is administering patient care is in charge of the squad and is responsible for all paperwork/patient info sharing/LEO handling. The medic in the back is in charge and is who should be addressing the cop.

With all that said, yeah both sides didn't handle things the best but for the cop to go after the squad like that because they didn't move over instantly is a bit stupid. Let's have him drive an ambulance and see how he handles it.

For what it's worth, every time I've run hot there have been people that didn't move out of my way. After I was clear of my call, I didn't go after them and flip out on them. That's not sane behavior.
Click to expand...
Since I'm an EMT
Click to expand...
Must be a small, low volume town. I had somebody following us back to the trauma center on the freeway when we were "hot" (failed suicide, shot under the chin) thinking he could beat traffic. I got on the radio to the highway patrol and let them know. The guy was pulled over within seconds. Later, the NHP guy showed up at the trauma center and said thanks and we should call that in whenever it happens. The "tailgater" was in for a guaranteed $1K fine plus whatever else the judge found appropriate. Interfering with an emergency vehicle is a major violation.

Almost all go out hot, and about 5% go to hospitals hot. You never want to interfere with one of those, they are running hot for a reason.

/ignorance
 
Since I'm an EMT, I will.

For what it's worth, every time I've run hot there have been people that didn't move out of my way. After I was clear of my call, I didn't go after them and flip out on them. That's not sane behavior.
Click to expand...

EMT's have no authority to enforce traffic law anyway.

For what it's worth.

😉
 
Originally posted by: Gothgar
Originally posted by: 911paramedic
P.S. OP, there is no such thing as an "ambulance driver" anymore, all people on the ambulance are EMT's or above. Call me an ambulance driver and the next thing you see will be the back of the ambulance and a lot of trauma dressings. With any luck I will do a nasal intubation.

Google nasal intubation and you will see how much fun it is, used to do it quite often.
Click to expand...

you're so intimidating
Click to expand...

I'm scared.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top