That’ll show you who’s boss
So, a firefighter parked his truck to block traffic and tended to the victims of an accident. A police officer told him to move the truck. The firefighter, instead, continued helping the victims. So, the police officer did the reasonable thing and handcuffed the firefighter and detained him.
You will do what they say. Or else.
February 6th, 2014 at 8:52 pm
Hope that cop’s house never catches fire…
February 6th, 2014 at 9:29 pm
@rickn8tor: then you’re a better human being than I am.
February 6th, 2014 at 11:43 pm
Respect my authoritah!
February 7th, 2014 at 12:07 am
In most states, deliberately interfering with a fireman doing his job is a crime.
That cop had best hope that fireman doesn’t sue him personally. I cannot imagine the local politicals doing anything other than throwing him to the wolves.
Something are too stupid for even a politician to attempt.
February 7th, 2014 at 12:08 am
You’ll note that within a half hour, an adult cop released said fireman.
February 7th, 2014 at 1:32 am
Bureaucrats are all about having their power respected. There was a time that the rank and file police weren’t bureaucrats.
February 7th, 2014 at 2:02 am
The restraint shown by the crew of the engine is admirable. As I’ve said elsewhere, as soon as the patient was loaded in the ambulance I’d have been sorely tempted to get some training time with the Hurst tool and the K-12 saw. You can never have too much training at vehicle extrications.
BGM
February 7th, 2014 at 10:38 am
Ah, everybody likes firemen better than cops. Everybody knows that. And deservedly, too. There are few firemen who are not the real thing, as opposed to cops who have more than their share of tinhorns in their ranks. A fire does not respect authority.
February 7th, 2014 at 10:43 am
“I’d have been sorely tempted to get some training time with the Hurst tool and the K-12 saw.”
That might have been emotionally satisfying, and I’d certainly enjoy watching the cops pulling guns on firefighters.
But this way works even better: the firefighters look like the mature adults in this situation (with the fire chief even saying “stay off the blogs, be respectful” to his men) while the CHP looks like the corrupt bunch of third-world thuggish cowboys they actually are.
February 7th, 2014 at 1:01 pm
Unfortunately, it appears Kalifornia is backwards – the CHP has command of all accidents on the highways, rather than Fire or EMS.
Of course, reading the newer details from Dwight Brown’s link, this is clearly a case of “respect mah authoritay!!11eleventy11!11!” on the cop’s part. Especially when you see that a) the firefighter didn’t refuse, he just said he had to check with his captain, first; and b) another firefighter was asked to move another unit by a different cop and was allowed to check with his supervisor with no issues.
IOW, the firefighter’s only “crime” was to fail to give immediate and unquestioning obedience to an authoritarian pig. I hope the cop gets run off the force, at minimum.
February 7th, 2014 at 1:46 pm
In most states, deliberately interfering with a fireman doing his job is a crime
It is…unless you’re a cop, then it’s their baby. If you are J.Q. Public, you get thrown in jail.
It should be noted: If Da Law wants to be in charge of the scene and not allow EMS to work, THEY are also responsible (in every sense of the word) for the patients.
With the amount of cops that have been injured and killed on the side of the road by cars, you’d think that having a 15 ton buffer would be welcomed.
You’d be wrong.
February 7th, 2014 at 5:03 pm
KM, along the same lines, who is the first ones taking care of injured/shot cops?
I’m sure the last thing a shot/injured cop wants to hear from an EMT is “Oh, yeah. I know who YOU are…”
February 7th, 2014 at 8:26 pm
If you’re a cop, there are people you can’t afford to get mad. Firemen are second only to emergency room personnel.
February 7th, 2014 at 10:57 pm
Firemen that I used to know didn’t take crap off cops like that.
February 7th, 2014 at 11:52 pm
As I recall, it was a couple of CHP thugs who beat up Patricia Koney in New Orleans; wonderful examples of lawmen, aren’t they?
February 8th, 2014 at 2:15 am
CHP can be really good at pissing off their support people.
Unfortunately, the end result is the degradation of services provided to the travelers on the roads patrolled by them.
I’ve seen it happen. Hell, I’ve done it myself.
When the CHP decided that the motorist that deliberately tried to run me over at a crash site was right, and I was in the wrong, I vowed to never arrive at an accident site prior to them again, if at all possible. Since I had the same patrol zone as them, I took note of any accidents/incidents that were reported over their radio channel, and turned around and went the other way as quick as I safely could.
If my dispatch channel requested me to proceed there, I moved as slow as was feasible. I stopped going out of my way to help CHP units near my patrol area. I stopped helping them with flat tires on their units.
If I arrived at a disabled/crashed vehicle(s) first, I moved NOTHING until a unit showed up. I used to try to get the road cleared as quickly as I could, so they wouldn’t have to show up, or at least get as much done before they got there. That intent came to a screeching halt. I figured if they couldn’t back me up, I wasn’t putting my butt on the line for them.
Wasn’t just me. After much prodding at our next CHP meeting, they admitted that we FSP drivers didn’t really have the legal authority to do what they expected us to be doing, that is: direct traffic at a crash scene. No stopping traffic to clear a disabled vehicle out of the traffic lanes, or similar activity.
February 8th, 2014 at 3:21 am
Got another example, about the same time:
Co-worker patrolled hyw 17, from the crest almost to the coast at Santa Cruz. Using his PA system, he advised a woman to move to the slow lane, as she was blocking the flow of traffic. She filed a complaint, and he got the same punishment I did, a week suspension w/o pay.
He had been running that beat for 9 yrs, w/o problems. (we ran during commute hours. I was his relief driver when needed.)
There are certain downhill spots that get crashes frequently, especially in the rain, at night. One of his techniques was to go to the crest, and employ the Chippie Weave(tm) to get traffic slowed down, and stopped if necessary, at the crash site, so he could get the road cleared, safely, for everyone. (The chippie weave, done with a tow truck on a divided 4 lane road, w/o shoulders, definitely gets the public’s attention.)
He stopped doing this, but would instead sit at the crest, and call for a CHP unit to do it for him. This wait could be 30-45 minutes, for a unit to arrive from the coast (different county from the bay area).
He told me there were usually more vehicles crashed by the time they could get there. They were pissed, and complained to our CHP supervisors that ran the FSP division.
They were told that what he had been doing all those years wasn’t legal, so they couldn’t discipline him for NOT doing it any more. 😀
He quit a few months later. Guess who got to finish out the contract for that beat? [waves hand :)]
February 8th, 2014 at 3:05 pm
rickn8or, most cops “get it” and try not to piss off the folks that will help them in their time of utmost need.
Others….oh well.
February 8th, 2014 at 11:03 pm
I guarantee you that the name of that CHP was known in every Fire Station and Emergency Room in the area within 48 hours. He’d better hope that he dos’nt get badly hurt because if that happens he’ll find that the “sense of urgency” in helping him in his case will be pretty low.
February 8th, 2014 at 11:57 pm
Will, that’s kind of funny. My folks lived not very far from the terminus of 17, and I know what you are referring to.
The CHP used to be a very well run org. I wonder what happened over the past 15 years or so?
February 10th, 2014 at 10:39 am
It’s scenes like this that lead to every cop’s worst nightmare: “Officer down!” Reply “Which officer?”