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No Charges
Saturday, June 6th, 2009The Oklahoma state trooper caught on film choking a paramedic will not face charges.
Wonder what would happen if a regular person put a choke hold on an EMT as he was trying to get a sick person to the hospital?
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The paramedic’s attorney, Richard O’Carroll, says, “We are disappointed the district attorney did not file charges against the trooper. While we understand his position politically, we believe it would have gone a long way in resolving the matter.”
You mean there’s politics involved? I’m stunned. I thought there was a point where politics gives way to equality under the law. Silly me.
Uh. Huh.
So, where’s the dash cam footage? The footage the cops say had teh evidence on it? The footage they weren’t releasing because it was under investigation?
Oh! I’m guessing it’s also the footage that makes Officer Roadrage look like an out of control douche.
Oh hey, look at that. I scoured teh interwebs and found more action on Trooper Martin (Officer Roadrage)
http://www.wusa9.com/news/columnist/blogs/2009/06/no-charges-to-be-filed-in-oklahoma.html
Apparently, the good officer flew into an indignation fueled rage when the driver of the ambulance allegedly flipped him off. Thus forcing him, (in defense of his chivalric honor, I would expect) to run that sum-bitch down and try to arrest him.
Read his statement… then compare that with the video the guy shot on his cell phone. Falsifying reports, anyone? Anyone? Beuler?
I know it won’t happen, because paramedics are better people than that, but I’d love to see the ambulance service put out a statement to the effect that they won’t respond to OHP calls anymore, seeing as how their paramedics aren’t safe around these violent sociopaths.
“So, where’s the dash cam footage? The footage the cops say had teh evidence on it? The footage they weren’t releasing because it was under investigation?”
I imagine after viewing the tape and seeing what was on it, they determined the camera wasnt working.
You must respect mah AUTHORITAH!
Noone gets any respect from the cops, not EMTs, not Firemen, not even Fire Captain David Wilson, who had his driver park their pumper to form a protective box so a guy with a back injury could be carefully extracted from his wrecked car.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khBMoZdwEmc
Notice the positioning of the gurney… they’re fixing to pull this guy out sideways… they would have been FUCKING INCHES from the open lane on the left.
Hazelwood Officer Todd Greaves told them to move the pumper… probably so he could score sweet footage of the injured guy getting obliterated by a car on his dash cam. But Captain Wilson wouldn’t have that… and overrides Officer Greave’s AUTHORITAH!
I salute you, Captain Wilson!
From the STATter 911 interview:
“I took the gesture as a sign of defiance to (the) failure to yield earlier, and that they (ambulance) did not believe they had a responsibility to adhere to the rules of the road in regards to my emergency vehicle,” Martin said.
Shorter – HE DID NOT RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!
And flipping him off might not be illegal but that doesn’t seem to bother this trooper. Because NO ONE will disrespect him without paying the price.
And yeah, where is that dash cam footage? Time for an open records request?
Ah, it looks like the jury salutes Captain Wilson, too. And Officer Greeves QQs all the way to the bank to get the 17,500 bucks he owes him from the ensuing lawsuit.
http://www.kmov.com/featuredstories/stories/kmov_localnews_080213_firefighterarrested.bd01f42f.html
#6 | Bob
The fire capt works for Robertson Fire Department, which overlaps with Hazelwood city limits. Hazelwood also has a municipal fire department, which has had several issues with the cops being assholes. I’ve been caught in their speed traps and was dinged once for making a rolling right turn by the whores’ red light traffic camera.
The bording police department in Florissant was rated the most abusive for it’s size in America by policeabuse.com. Hazelwood’s trying to dethrone them, apparently.
‘bordering’ not ‘bording’! oops.
I’ll get BACK to you on this…but when I was a paramedic, our authority OVER-RODE any and all other public servants including LEO.
The patient’s LIFE is placed over all other issues including ‘flipping’ someone off.
Knowing me though…if this had happened to me…we would have had to dispatch SECOND ambulance for the OFFICER and possibly some bloodhounds to help him locate his NUTZ!
Derogatory words, names and ‘flipped fingers’ on have the POWER we ALLOW them to have.
Apparently Officer ‘Friendly’ is a very insecure and immature person otherwise he would have shrugged it off like an ADULT to say nothing of his position of supposedly being a ‘professional’.
Cops, fire and EMS personnel get flipped off and cursed out almost on a daily basis…so this officer should recognize it is part of the job.
The paramedic was accused of ‘flipping’ him off…anyway. And so what if he did? Big damned deal!
Somehow I knew Dave Kreuger would be the first one to post on this! And, I mean that is a good thing. Also, somehow I knew Judi would be calling a second ambulance as well. Anyway, this crap totally pisses me off, and if Judi and I were there together there would be havoc!! Nothing like two irate females!
I also wonder, given incidents like this, why officers aren’t tested for steroid use on a regular basis… everywhere.
Seems like we worry more about baseball players enhancing their performance than people with badges, guns and tasers ‘roid raging.
It is almost as if cops can get away with anything.
Lorraine, you got that right sister!
Cynical’s Boilerplate
If a LEO acting in the course of official duty and not for personal gain commits violence against a citizen, especially but not necessarily if fear for safety is asserted, then the State will defend said LEO as a lawful State agent in every case.
There are few constants in this world: gravity, change, and State self-preservation are paramount.
More significant and surprising is that the EMT will not face charges. The State is usually extremely jealous of its monopoly on violence and punishes all transgressors. This may bode well for a civil suit against defendant LEO by plaintiff EMT. Then again, if there is a civil suit, we may see charges, or worse, filed against the EMT after all.
That probably would not be in their best interest. They would have to hand over any dash cam video if they took that route.
Every day brings another tale of out -of – control police.
I’m sure everyone is aware of the latest from Texas, but just in case you missed it: http://www.examiner.com/x-536-Civil-Liberties-Examiner~y2009m6d2-Texas-cop-Tasers-greatgrandmother
My question: How much longer is this shit going to continue?
I’d feel safer walking through Detroit at night with a large sum of cash than taking my chances with a cop – ANY cop.
Well, I’m sure the fine citizens of Oklahoma will sleep safe tonight knowing that Officer Piggy McOink and Officer Fatback Baconsizzle are once again roaming their highways.
@Steam McQueen
Except that the cops are just as likely to steal/seize a large sum of money from you if you can’t justify possessing it to their satisfaction.
Filing charges would require a DA in Oklahoma to care what happened to a black man. I don’t think that’s very likely.
“How much longer is this going to continue”? My answer is ,until we citizens stop it by taking our rights back, and you know how that has to go. They should do substance tests on these beefed up skin heads after they get caught going berserk.
Another interesting video of cops beating someone for no real apparent reason. These seem to be getting more and more common. Not the beatings, of course. Just the fact that they’re being caught on camera.
Well, I have mixed feelings about cameras everywhere, but they do seem to shine the light on bad police a bit more these days.
“All animals are equal. But some animals are more equal than others.”
Ironic that the animals being referred to in that novel were pigs…
This is an example of immensely stupid abuse of authority.
Beating up some random citizen is something the cops can get away with, often with few consequences. But they have to work with the fire department and EMTs and ER doctors every day, and mutual hostility in that relationship will have real consequences for how hard their jobs are. Pretty much every traffic accident with an injury involves the need for all those guys to work together, as does anytime someone’s injured when he’s arrested.
Even when your side holds all the power (not true here), you can’t get away with crapping all over people you have to deal with every day to get your job done–you’ll find that interactions that used to take five minutes now take an hour, that forms you need to cover your ass or fill out your reports never materialize, that your calls get answered far more slowly than other peoples’ calls.
Given the culture of impunity in (apparently) a lot of police departments, the other cops may back him. But if they’re smart, they’ll also quietly encourage him to move on to another town or job.
[...] Daniel Martin, the Oklahoma State Trooper who was suspended for 5 days and forced to undergo anger management counseling after he was caught on tape choking an EMT because he didn’t pull over fast [...]