STATter 911

I would first like to say they should screen HWYPD officers better. These guys obiviously have no respect for life and should be banned from ever having a badge/gun again. If they wanna fight let them come join me in Afghanistan and they can rough up some Taliban if they see fit which i am quite sure they would be a coward. This pisses me off that we have soliders over here pay ultimate sacrafice for retards like this.
 

Seriously, are you all watching the same video I am? I am a Paramedic and I see the paramedic shove the officer. We have to give the officer credit that he cannot be shoved by anyone, for any reason. Obvisously the pt. was not in distress, and the ambulance should have given right of way, since they were non-emergent.
 

So its OK for a cop to assault a civilian? If the patient was not in distress than why did they have to start an IV? Yeah, I watched the same video, I saw some cops who should be looking for a new line of employment.
 

What I saw was a trooper with a huge ego and a short fuse making poor decisions. First one was to even pull the ambulance over. Second was to go on the tirade and invade the paramedic's personal space. OHP might as well hire Cartman, "You will respect my authoriti!"
 

I do no concur with "Get Real's" view of the video. The Paramedic only shoved the KO Officer after the Officer started physical contact WITHOUT reason! This goes above any one touching me, for any reason, especially if I have not broken ANY law, as the black Paramedic did not. No one is above the law, and these two KO officers are a poor choice to protect the local citizens. They should be immediately removed from service as Police Officers, & better yet, should be charged with assault of the Paramedic.
 

Email Campaign has begun. Copy and paste this message and send to:
choffice at dps state ok us
RE:Apology and Disciplinary Action Wanted Now
Chief of Patrol, Van M. Guillotte #3,
The recent incident circulating the Nation's Airwaves concerning the Trooper and the EMT's seriously undermines the Core Values and Mission Statement adopted by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.
OHP Core Values
LOYALTY
HONESTY
RESPECT
INTEGRITY
PROFESSIONALISM
SELF-DISCIPLINE

Time to Get Back To Basics
 

I see an officer make his intention of arrest known. I then see the civilian whom the officer has notified he is arresting begin to move toward the other officer as though his claim of assault against the other officer would negate the officers ability to detain/arrest him. The civilian than within close proximity to one officer raises his hand and raises his voice. The officer begins to try and place his hand into a submission to gain control to continue the arrest. The amount of force was obviously NOT excessive since the man was able to affectly remove himself from the officers force quickly without injury. The officer noting the resistance and strength then proceeds to try and make the arrest with more force. The other officer begins to help the arresting office noting the struggle unfolding. No weapon(lethal, less lethal or non-lethal) was used. Force was only applied by their hands. I'm not sure what the big deal is from this video alone. My only question is WHY was the officer arresting that man?
 

FIRST TIME IN 54 YEARS I AM ASHAMED OF OKLAHOMA,OBVIOUS MISUSE OF ATHORITY!Any paramedic in oklahoma can name names of troopers who have been out of control at times and kept it quiet guess from now on i will report it.
 

It does not matter what the details of the law are.

This cop is acting overagressive, there is no threat, is the EMT driver going to attack him or something? Absurb retard.

This cop needs to be fired on the spot for being a retard. Who cares what the actual regulations state.

Gets some common sense back into this country, write the governor.
 

The Officer thought the driver flipped him the bird. This is not illegal due to the First Ammendment. I think we can agree this was an illegal traffic stop, therefore all further actions are illegal.

Per the legal rulings below, being upheld by SCOTUS, the officers should feel fortunant to be alive.

"When a person, being without fault, is in a place where he has a right to be, is violently assaulted, he may, without retreating, repel by force, and if, in the reasonable exercise of his right of self defense, his assailant is killed, he is justified." Runyan v. State, 57 Ind. 80; Miller v. State, 74 Ind. 1.

"These principles apply as well to an officer attempting to make an arrest, who abuses his authority and transcends the bounds thereof by the use of unnecessary force and violence, as they do to a private individual who unlawfully uses such force and violence." Jones v. State, 26 Tex. App. I; Beaverts v. State, 4 Tex. App. 1 75; Skidmore v. State, 43 Tex. 93, 903.

"An illegal arrest is an assault and battery. The person so attempted to be restrained of his liberty has the same right to use force in defending himself as he would in repelling any other assault and battery." (State v. Robinson, 145 ME. 77, 72 ATL. 260).

Each person has the right to resist an unlawful arrest. In such a case, the person attempting the arrest stands in the position of a wrongdoer and may be resisted by the use of force, as in self- defense." (State v. Mobley, 240 N.C. 476, 83 S.E. 2d 100).

"One may come to the aid of another being unlawfully arrested, just as he may where one is being assaulted, molested, raped or kidnapped. Thus it is not an offense to liberate one from the unlawful custody of an officer, even though he may have submitted to such custody, without resistance." (Adams v. State, 121 Ga. 16, 48 S.E. 910).

And on the issue of actually killing an arresting officer in self defense:

"Citizens may resist unlawful arrest to the point of taking an arresting officer's life if necessary." Plummer v. State, 136 Ind. 306. This premise was upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States in the case: John Bad Elk v. U.S., 177 U.S. 529
 

Officer 606 should be sent to prison for this. He was totally out of control.
 

As an EMT, if pulled over by state my first step is to inform county of my exact location and why I am stopping. County will time stamp the transmission. One reason state may stop an ambulance is that they have someone in need of immediate medical care. While we could not abandon our current patient. One EMT could tend to another's needs until another ambulance arrived. If the states reason was non-emergency then they should be informed about the patient and the location of patient care transfer. If state did not immediately disengage I (or my partner) would call county for the sheriff (or a deputy) for I would know I am dealing with a renegade officer. I would try to calm the trooper down and make sure it was known in no uncertain terms that I had a patient in my care and a duty to provide care. It would be a dereliction of duty not to make absolutely certain the trooper knew I had a patient.

It is sad that police academy instructors do not teach officers professionalism. Always error on the side of the patient.
 

It's shocking how often officers treat ordinary citizens like this. So much more so that they would pull this crap on an ambulance crew transporting a patient.

Where were they going in such a hurry? If it was that important that they get there so quickly, then the need to pull over this ambulance could only have trumped the importance of that original call because of a childishly fragile ego of the little boy with the badge and gun.

This is why the Black Panthers were so necessary in the 1960s. They armed themselves and followed officers around to keep them from beating and victimizing black people. It makes me sad to say that I think we need that attitude again. Too many cops need babysitting, and since they are armed and dangerous, the citizen babysitters should be too.

I see this kind of violence perpetrated by the police all the time. (I live in a non-affluent neighborhood of St. Paul, MN, and I saw the same when I lived in a similar neighborhood in Minneapolis.) People seriously should consider reviving the Black Panther strategy, bearing video cameras if not firearms.

It also saddens me how clueless the blogosphere seems to be about the racial profiling practiced around our country by the police against American Indians. This was not a white cop harassing a black man; it was a white cop harassing an ambulance crew that he knew to be part of a sovreign Indian nation. Ever visit a Wal Mart with an American Indian? Try it and see how you're treated. Wake up Americans! This can't go on! Take your neighborhoods back!
 

It is insane to see an ambulance pulled over to begin with and to see the lack of professional courtesy between the officers and the medic makes me sick, not to mention the fact that there is a pt who's care, REGARDLESS of her condition, was being interrupted without regard. To be honest, as a medic myself, would not have stopped to begin with, if the trooper had a problem, he could confront me about it after pt care was turned over at the hospital. I highly respect all officers, but when it comes to patient care, they are number 1. The stated medic above who agree's to this officers actions obviously has no pt care and I feel sorry for those who are transported by him/her.
 

I am a daughter of an EMT, a niece of a sargent at Washington DC Fire Department and a member at our local firehouse as well in training..

I have never seen a police officer ever in my life use this much hostility against a paramedic.

It's an ambulance, even if they did not give right of way in non-emergent instances, it's still bull crap because I believe if an ambulance is transporting a patient they should not however be stopped nor have to give right of way.

That patient is paying to have a good ambulance transportation/care and those cops were risking the patients life by not having the crew in with the patient..

Really, this is rather sad.
My fiancee' is a policemen in Maryland and I have never seen or heard of anyone around here doing such thing.

This should be acted upon quickly, and future mistakes looked back onto this incident to be a lesson learned.

I hope the patient/family is OK, as well as the paramedics. My concerns go to you all. :)

Anyhow, like I said, this needs to be taken from court and those police officers need to be either banned, suspended or something..They however should not get away with their actions.
 

This is an absoute travesty. How 'power-hungry' are you behind the badge that you have to stoop to this level? This individual should be stripped of his badge, removed from his position and serve time with REAL criminals. Maybe he will gain some respect for human life. This paramedic was caring for another being. I would have never stopped for them, had I been caring for a patient. They can catch me at the hospital. This is ridiculous.
 

As one of the earlier posters asked, "What was the original nature of the trooper's call?" It's very obvious that if he had time for that, then obviously it was not that important.
The trooper and EMT's are both from the same area and obviously the EMT's were not acting in a dangerous manner jepoardizing public safety so why make the stop when he did. The trooper knows where they work, if the driver did "flip" him off, report it to his supervisor, not endanger the life of the patient. The family members did not help the situation either, however, in their defense they were concerned about mama's health. I wonder how trooper Martin would have reacted if that would have been a family member of his in the ambulance.
One last question, who was that women with trooper Martin?
 

As I see it the paramedic pushed away the officer AFTER the officer provoked the action when he grabbed the paramedics arm and tried to twist it behind his back. As a paramedic his duty was to care for the patient in the ambulance. Given the ridiculous nature of officers claims I would be more interested in getting care for the patient and transport to the hospital as soon as possible. That maybe the reason he was reluctant to being arrested. After all he did nothing wrong. There could not be a more clear cut case of a police officer with a huge EGO that thinks he can push his weight around anywhere,anytime on anyone he pleases. He gives a bad name to police officers everywhere. Not much has been said about the other officer on the seen. He is just as bad, he had plenty of time to talk some since to his partner and did not even attempt to. He also deserves to lose his job. I guess the good ole boy club lives on. The D.A. is a real piece of work to turn this around so it looks like it was the paramedics wrong doing and sides with the officer. Oklahoma has problems in there legal system and I feel for the residents there. Maybe a large amount of money will be awarded to the patient and that will open the eyes of THE GOOD OLE BOYS!!
 

As a Virginia medic, I have been following this case with immense interest, as has the rest of the EMS community.

Judging by the video, both from the dashcam and the witness' video, the only reasonable and equitable outcome of this would be to charge the officer with the felony of interfering with a Paramedic in the performance of his duty, which was signed into law in OK days before this incident... as well as to summarily terminated by the OK State Police/Highway Patrol.

This officer, besides committing a Felony, has yet put another huge stain on a profession that deserves better, and to make matters worse, is now claiming that "PTSD made him do it." If that is, indeed, the case, the OK State Police stands as guilty as this officer for not adequately screening officers returning from active duty in war zones.

On the other hand, the paramedic should be commended for a flawless, and absolutely legal and justifiable response to this atrocity.
 

The ambulance was emergent. If a patient is having chest pains or symptoms of a heart attack, they do not run the sirens.
 

IT IS APPARENT THAT SOME OF THE PEOPLE POSTING COMMENTS ARE STUPID. IF THE PARAMEDIC WOULD HAVE COMPLIED WITH OFFICERS INSTRUCTION THIS SITUATION WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPEN. THEN HE COULD HAVE FILE A COMPLAINT AGAINST THE OFFICER IF HE THOUGHT THE OFFICER DID SOMETHING WAS WRONG. NOW WHEN PARAMEDICS CALL FOR HELP SOME POLICE MAY NOT RESPOND AND VICE VERSA. NOBODY WINS BUT I THINK THE PARAMEDIC WAS MORE AT FAULT THAN THE POLICE. GRANTED THE POLICE SHOULD HAVE NOT PULLED THE PARAMEDIC OVER.
 

From the dashcam video it looks as though the officer was coming up pretty fast on the ambulace and as the ambulance driver pulled out to go around the car in front of him he then had to contend with the officer being on his ass. I have driven ambulance and been a nurse in the back and those things are not a patrol car. They are top heavy and once you pull out to pass, getting back in quickly is not easy at all. I tend to think that the officer was a little to power hungry and thought that because he had red lights flashing and no siren I could hear that it meant automatic clear road ahead. In my oppinion he is 100% at fault and not very pofessional at all. Did he stop to consider the fact that the woman in the back may have been suffering from something serious that would prevent them from running hot due to her anxiety level. He never once asked what was the problem. He just wanted to pound his chest and went all Dirty Harry. Fire his ass and send him to Mall Cop school.