OK State Trooper pulls over ambulance on way to hostpital, chokes EMT.

www.youtube.com...

Unfortunately, the audio is not the best, and it's not clear why they were pulled over in the first place. Regardless, this ambulance was pulled over on the way to the hospital, patient in the back, and the troopers choke an EMT, and inform him he's under arrest.

Does anyone have any additional information on this incident? These EMT's were transporting someone to the hospital. I'd certainly hate to think that there will be no consequences for these troopers to face. I wonder if the final outcome would be any different had the patient died while parked on the side of the road with their ride to the hospital being choked out by the cops.

Edit for embed.

[edit on 5/28/2009 by Unit541]

Wow. Dont really have any info on the incident, but i feel compelled to say:

If ANYONE puts their hand around my throat like that, they better be prepared to fight to the death. The minute you go for the throat, its a killing tactic, and something that police SHOULD NOT be able to do.

Those police are lucky the man didnt get violent. He looks like a BIG boy.

Crazy. Here is what I was able to find. Apparently the ambulance did not yield (but do they not have the right of way to an extent?)

"As my partner was pulling onto the shoulder, the cruiser came alongside our unit and gestured for my driver to pull over," White says. "When the officer came to a complete stop behind the ambulance, I noticed a woman in the front seat. Based on the officer's erratic driving behavior, I thought that the woman in the front seat of the cruiser was in need of immediate medical attention; hence I exited the rear of the ambulance in order to assess the situation."

White says the officer was in a rage when he approached them and yelled "get your a-- back here! I am giving you a ticket for failure to yield." White says he told the trooper they had a patient in the ambulance and that they were on their way to the hospital.

www.ktul.com...

I was under the impression that EVERYONE is supposed to get out of the way for an Ambulance that has a patient in the back. Looks like the police officer was on a power trip.

It does not surprise me in the least that when a gangster in blue pulls over someone illegally, that the gangster feins righteous indignation. But I would not want to 'judge' this event based on only one side; what is the officers side? What does the gangster say? I've always believed there is an exception to every rule, so that there is likely an honest cop, but I have never met him. He may have been simply attempting to raise tax revenue, and noone else was around to 'ticket'.

Seems like our so called 'protectors of the law' are creating more problems now than ever.. The Cops escalated this with force and threats.

Just let the Ambulance get to the hospital, ok? Come on. They just turned a small situation into a paperwork nightmare..

MANY become cops because they get off on the control aspect and get to carry a gun and be intimidating. (Evil).. While most may be good people, those few sometimes ruin it for the good ones. sad...

Umm, an urgent medical emergency trumps any law of the road!

Besides, if the ambulance had it's lights or siren on, then they did not have to yield! Even in Oklahoma!

Heck, no judge would have found a problem with it if it had been a normal civilian in a normal vehicle driving someone to the Emergency Room in a life or death situation!

The need to write a citation does not override a medical emergency, under no circumstances. You are talking about a piece of paper that could be mailed to the driver at a later date compared to a human life in critical condition that needs immediate medical care. A piece of paper is never more important than a human life. Ever!

If the officer hadn't been an inbred with a chip on his shoulder who is deserving of being drawn and quartered in the public square, then he would have simply followed the ambulance to the hospital and cited them after the hospital took over the patient. Instead, it sounds like he was showing off how "tough" he is to the female passenger in his cruiser that he was trying to impress.

This guy seriously needs to lose his badge and face some jail time himself!

reply to post by Digital_Reality


OK, so Ashley's link gives a little more insight. By "failure to yield", the troopers mean the ambulance failed to move over so the trooper could speed past them on their own business. The officers apparently thought their call was more important than getting the patient to the hospital, yet trivial enough to spend the time necessary to harass and assault the EMT's.

White says he saw the trooper approaching from behind at a high rate of speed with lights activated, but he did not hear a siren. He says Franks had a car in front of him that his attention was focused on and hadn't seen the trooper before he was within a few feet of the ambulance.

"I called out to my partner and told him to pull to the side because there was a State Trooper behind us," White says.

White says as the trooper passed them, he made radio contact, telling Franks "you should consider checking your rearview mirrors".

White says a few blocks after this incident, another trooper entered the road at a high rate of speed, cutting in front of a car driven by a family member of the patient. White says he then saw another trooper approaching from the rear.

"As my partner was pulling onto the shoulder, the cruiser came alongside our unit and gestured for my driver to pull over," White says. "When the officer came to a complete stop behind the ambulance, I noticed a woman in the front seat. Based on the officer's erratic driving behavior, I thought that the woman in the front seat of the cruiser was in need of immediate medical attention; hence I exited the rear of the ambulance in order to assess the situation."

So, they even made radio contact? What? then the troopers needed to call their buddies to come harass them?

Hate to bring it up, but it almost seems racially motivated.

[edit on 5/28/2009 by Unit541]

WOW! THat is a huge scene with witnesses all over. Luckily the guy had a camera. You can hear the patient screaming and her son saying, "It's alright mama." Maybe the ambulance took a turn too fast, maybe there was a near collision, maybe there was a falsely reported crime involved, maybe the EMT in the back had some warrants.......WHO CARES! The situation could have been handled at the hospital after the patient was safe! This reminds me of the situation in Florida that got two officers and a suspect killed, because they decided to go to the GUN RANGE to arrest someone over a domestic battery.

Fair warning to police: In that situation, the most important thing is to get your mother to the hospital, so I would be very courteous, but in the upcoming days, weeks, months, years, those officers would come upon a whole lot of bad luck if that was one of my relatives. Niceness does not equate to weakness, and the power police wield comes in controlling a situation with numbers and force. Two variables easily reversed with a little planning and foresight. That officer won't be nearly so arrogant when approached one day while mowing his lawn!

The son was smart to get the tag number, use FOI act to get the citation with the officer's names. Use whatever contacts and friends you have to get personal info, and as the old adage goes, "Revenge is best served cold!" After enough time had passed, and due to the fact I was not cited or involved in any official reports from the incident, I would not even be a suspect.

Its BS like this that cause civil & lawabiding citizens, like myself, to completly disdain police officers and what they 'stand for'. I will say that I personally know a couple of officers who are excellent individuals and would never do something this crazy and basically illegal, but the majority of them are douche bags who got picked on in high school who are now on their power trip. Eff 'em

All I can say is HOORAYYY for technology. This event and the ones that seem to mirror this should prompt EVERYONE to take advantage of technology we have now. Everyone should be more willing than ever to take to the streets cell phones ablaze and camera's screaming to bring justice to a growing problem in the law enforcement community. This is our sword against tyranny people. 15 sec of video could save someones life and future. People should be using their cell phones at all times to record police at traffic stops or any thing. You must police the police because they have no checks and balances that keep them from over stepping the WRITTEN law. I.A. dept are the same as asking the politicians to proof read law written by other politicians. It's in favor of the government always.

Ok. I'm pissed off that was a completely unwarrented stop. The trooper could have at the very least escorted them to the hospital and then written the ticket.
I am tired of this bs. Please do what I just did and write an email to the state governer.

It is time for citizens to speak up. Not just read about crap and do nothing.!!!
the link takes you to an email form for the gov of OK.
gov.ok.gov...

What if this was a heart attack patient? The patient could have died while this cop had his power trip. I would have sued the crap out of this cop and/or the police dept. Hell, I would sue anyway!

I think what gets me the most, is that, according to the EMT's statement (static.ktul.com...), due to the officers erratic driving (which partially ran another vehicle off the road), he thought the officer was attempting to get medical assistance for a woman in the passenger seat of the cruiser.

Why is the black guy in the back under arrest, and the white driver is not?

Granted, I'm not 100% positive the white guy was driving but it sure looked like the black guy was in the back of the ambulance. So, that's the impression I got.

Anyway, since when do ambulances have to yield to traffic? I'm not sure I'm following the cop's logic at all.

reply to post by Unit541


Holy crap!

That's insane!

Why are you all putting up with this? If this happened in the UK it would be all over the news, those officers would be suspended pending an investigation, statements would probably be made in parliament FFS!
AND THEN THEY'D LOSE THEIR JOBS!

How on earth can they do this and think they can get away with it?

Seriously, I think we need a "Police Abuse of Power" forum on this site, there seems to be more and more of these examples coming to light recently.

America, you're country is seriously screwed up.

Originally posted by TheComte
Why is the black guy in the back under arrest, and the white driver is not?

Good question. Is "conspiracy to fail to yield" an offense?

reply to post by Unit541


That is SO BAD. I am not anti-cop, like quite a few people seem to be. THIS is NOT ACCEPTABLE.

Here is something to remember - police services use YOUR power, a case of transference of justice, to do their job.

When someone acts like this, they are abusing not only the person they are doing it to you, but every person in the country, by misusing the transference of the right of justice of every individual in the country. They are abusing the RIGHT that you GIVE to the state, so that society will function better. (Robson, The Governors and The Governed)

reply to post by Unit541


I am a paramedic myself (working in another industry), and know what it is like to ride a truck on the streets. I am appaled at this event. There is a term used called professional courtsey, where I have mentioned I'm a paramedic and gotten out of tickets because they know how we face the streets together. I would never enter a scene I thought was dangerous without an Officer present and the scene "Cleared". I depended on them for my safety in a critical way the same way they would depend on me to save thier lives in the event they wrecked in a pursuit or were stabbed or shot on duty. It works the same for firefighters. Pretty much all Emergency Services Workers consider each other family and know how important it is that we work together.

There are different levels we catagorize the calls we run Code 3 being high priority ie. lights and siren. If a call is non critical we do not put the public at risk by speeding and running through intersections on the way to the Hospital with a patient, so it is possiable that The EMT's were not running at code 3 and should have moved over to give right away to an officer responding Code 3 to a call. This does not EVER give the officer the right to put his hands on anyone over a simple traffic violation regardless if it was an Ambulance or the general public.

As sad as it is to say I kind of hope this guy losses his job over this. If not one day he will be injured on the job in some way as it's risky work that he does, and when he is I hope this same Medic gets the call, does everything right, saves his life, and sends him on his way happy and healthy, with the memories of how he treated the Medic and how he was treated in return. Those memories will haunt him and he will give the medic what he deserves a face to face nonforced apology from his heart and he will leave a changed man.

Judging by the size of the EMT being choked my vote is that he shoulda put the cop in the back of the ambulance needing medical care.