In a statement obtained by The News On 6, paramedic Maurice White said the patrol car came within three feet of the ambulance with its lights on, eventually passing while telling the driver over the emergency radio: “You should consider checking you rearview mirrors.”
After taking care of the original call, the trooper waited for the ambulance and pulled it over. White says in his statement: “The officer got out of his vehicle in a state of rage.”
In other words, the trooper was so upset about the incident he was waiting for the ambulance to pull them over.
OHP says before the home video was recording, the paramedic assaulted the state trooper. But, Diana Walkup says the paramedic never touched anyone until the patrolman grabbed his arm.
This is all too typical. Claim that the person the police are roughing up did something where we have only the police officers’ involved word for it. However, we have another witness besides the EMT, the camera man (whose mother was being transported),
A witness, who declined to go on camera, told The News On 6 the same story.
“He was yelling, screaming. He was irrational to me,” said witness Diana Walkup.
[…]
“We thought, my God, is he going to pull a gun? That’s really what we thought. We didn’t know if he was fixing to pull a gun or what,” said witness Diana Walkup.
[…]
The trooper’s dash-cam video is in the custody of an assistant district attorney in Okfuskee County. She says it will not be released because it’s part of the investigation.
Right. Now I wouldn’t be at all surprised that the dash-cam video footage gets “lost” or is never released. I wouldn’t also be surprised to find out that the additional wittness is harassed.
And there is yet more,
So, who had the right of way? The Creek Nation admits the ambulance did not have on its lights and sirens, while the trooper had on his lights, but no sirens.
The News On 6 couldn’t find anything that gives one emergency vehicle the right of way over another, but we did find one state law that says: “Every person who willfully delays…an emergency medical technician…in the performance of…care and treatment…is guilty of a misdemeanor.”
I don’t know if there is anything significant omitted from the above, but I imagine the LEO view is that those laws apply to civilians not LEOs, after all they are LEOs and thus above civilians…hence the distinction.
