The Oklahoma Highway Patrolman should be Fired and SUED!

[hammersley]

There is no defending this JERK!!!! Be sure to watch the Dash Cam..... if it wasn't for the private video..... who knows what might have happenned.....

Oklahoma Highway Patrol finally releases video of trooper attack on paramedic

Update June 14: I've just published part 3 of this story, which includes a 17-minute interview with paramedic Maurice White.

Original story follows.

Recently I told you about a horrifying incident in which an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper interrupted an elderly patient's hospital run and choked the paramedic on duty in the ambulance.

Fox 23 in Tulsa had had a Freedom of Information request in for the dash cam for more than two weeks. Late last night, the OHP finally stopped stonewalling and released the trooper's video dash cam.

It's not pretty. And, a warning--there is totally unacceptable language for a family setting.

Let me walk it down for you. An ambulance, with Maurice White acting as supervisor and paramedic, is taking an elderly woman, who had collapsed, to the hospital for treatment. Her worried family follows.

Trooper Daniel Martin, who was responding to a stolen car report, came up behind the ambulance on a two-lane country road. In Oklahoma, those shoulders are notoriously tricky for even a car to pull off onto. But there's another factor involved.

As the dash cam clearly shows, a car is on the right-hand shoulder, partially obstructing the highway. Just as the highway patrol pulls up behind the ambulance, the medical unit must swing out to avoid colliding with the parked car.

Let me repeat that, because it's important: if the ambulance's driver, Paul Franks, had immediately pulled over when the racing trooper came up behind him, he would have created an accident. It is impossible to safely pull over while slamming into another vehicle.

After the ambulance gets past the parked vehicle, Franks slows and safely pulls over for the trooper. As Martin zooms by--at a speed that I would call excessive for just a stolen car report--he uses the radio to reprimand the ambulance for not pulling over.

Later in the tape, it's shown that the sheriff's department is already on scene at the stolen car incident. Martin is released from any need to be at the scene.

Then he whips around, guns his car, and goes out hunting the ambulance. When he catches up with the ambulance, what happens next is a textbook case for bad judgment and abuse of power.

More on the Net.....

I might also add that elsewhere it was noted... ... that is Oklahoma (and I would imagine almost anyplace)

"Every person who willfully delays... an emergency medical technician... in the performance of... care and treatment... is guilty of a misdemeanor. "

 

[kowaliga]

Didn't the Para-medic finger salute the Cop? It really don't matter if the cop was right or wrong. . he is the law. Was the ambulance flashing and sounding his siren? Did the Med-techs resist and argue with the cop? Questioning the authority of your parents is one thing; questioning the authority of the police is stupid and illegal.

 

[fest3er]

Didn't the Para-medic finger salute the Cop? It really don't matter if the cop was right or wrong. . he is the law. Was the ambulance flashing and sounding his siren? Did the Med-techs resist and argue with the cop? Questioning the authority of your parents is one thing; questioning the authority of the police is stupid and illegal.

No. Cops are not the law and have never been the law. The law is those words which have been written down and codified as law. Cops are merely people who have sworn to uphold the law. It is called 'the rule of law', and is the most basic foundation of this republic.



There are times when police are allowed to step outside the law in order to enforce it. This wasn't one of those times. This cop was very clearly violating the laws that bind him; this cop was an outlaw. And when he stepped over that line, he yielded any authority he had. He was no longer enforcing the law; he was bullying and terrorizing the EMTs. He should be summarily fired and charged with violating federal anti-terrorism laws at the least; I'm sure there are a number of other laws he violated as well.



A uniform, gun and shield mean nothing; anyone can procure them. No one is obligated to blindly obey anyone. But one is obligated to obey the lawful orders of a police officer once one has determined to his reasonable satisfaction that the person giving the orders is, in fact, a bonafide police officer operating within the limits of the law.

 

[kowaliga]

Did the ambulance guys do any of those things I mentioned? Were they disrespectful ?

 

[hammersley]

Allwe have is the Statement from a ROGUE

COP that he was fingered... . from what I saw of his actions I wouldn't believe him for anything!

 

[kenny61]

2 retards. Neither of which should be doing anything other than collecting movie ticket stubs. Cop for getting angry that the ambulance took more than 3 seconds to pull over and the ambulance supervisor for getting involved in something that was none of his business

 

[Jumbo Jet]

Cop better go back to military and Iraq. His mission "to assist County" sure didn't turn out as important as he makes it out to be.

I would not have appreciated any of his actions, had that been my wife or mother in the ambulance.

 

[SNGLESHOT]

Questions.....

I am a volunteer Firefighter/Paramedic and a Captain with my company. I am also an Army Reserve medical officer in a Combat Support Hospital, and an ER/ICU RN. This OK Trooper reacted poorly and was out of line completely. My questions are these: Did the driver actually give the Tpr the finger? Why wasn't the EMS unit running red? If it was a true medical emergency they should not have stopped. I do not know OK's EMS SOP's so I am guessing but they do vary from state to state. Too many 'unknowns' in this incident. The trooper needs evaluated for PTSD symptoms in my estimation especially since he may have been subjected to a combat environment that could have affected him. It happens all too frequently. That being said, he should be medically and psychologically evaluated, treated and re-trained. He should NOT be fired. Maybe he was having a bad day? No excuse but he is human too. We are all salvageable. We need troopers but we need GOOD troopers.

 

[DBoggs]

From the local news reports I heard the other day, yes, the ambulance driver did give the trooper the finger. Also the transport was a non emergency transport, that is why there were no lights and siren on the ambulance.



I live about 2 miles from the trooper academy for the state of Oklahoma. I have personally experienced the overly zealous enforcement attitudes of Oklahoma troopers. I wonder if the trooper was a newbie?



It sounds to me like there was definite ignorance on the part of the trooper but I bet that there is more to this than is being disclosed.



Regardless, watch out when you are in Oklahoma as they will take your money if you aren't careful.



Duane

 

[kowaliga]

The recipients of citations and/or perceived abuse should contest their grievance in the prescribed manner. The L. E. officer in the field should always be respected and obeyed. He has the power of the law/life and death regardless how bad/wrong/that's not right the situation.

 

[Chief USA]

This rogue OK trooper is yet another example of State Sponsored Domestic Police Terrorism. If ANYONE other than a cop behaved in this fashion, they would facing a multitude of serious felony charges. This is besides the point that this rogue terrorist cop violated training standards, departmental policy, and the LAW.



What makes this Police Terrorism incident particularly compelling and upsetting is that this rogue terrorist cop is also military noncommisioned or commisioned officer! This rogue terrorist thug cop supposedly has sworn an oath to support and defend the United States Constitution against ALL enemies foreign and DOMESTIC.



This narsisistic, Napoleanic, ego stunted, police terrorist should not only be FIRED... ..... he should be facing a telephone book thick stack of serious criminal charges and should ALSO be facing military criminal charges at the VERY minimum for conduct unbecoming and officer or NCO. This nutcase, whackjob, cop ALSO should be required to undergo a MANDATORY psych eval. IMMEDIATELY! I think he has watched "FULL METAL JACKET" one too many times. :-laf



This short round, nasistic, Napoleanic, domestic terrorist cop is a HUGE disgrace to the police AND military uniform. As a retired military warrant officer, I find this rogue terrorist cop an OUTRAGE and EXTREME embarrassment to me and MANY others who have or are STILL in military uniform. #@$%!



This OK rogue cop idiot could have simply made a phone call to the supervisor of the ambulance driver's LATER and AFTER the patient had been taken to the hospital and allotted the time to let his out of control anger & ego managment problem cool off.

 

[pullya]

Kenny,

Please use a different word to describe the people involved in this incident. The word you choose is offensive to many people that have either a family member or friend that has a mental or physical disability.

Thank you

Jay

 

[scootergmc]

Kenny,

Please use a different word to describe the people involved in this incident. The word you choose is offensive to many people that have either a family member or friend that has a mental or physical disability.

Thank you

Jay

And it's not offensive to others, so save your pc. And yes, my childhood best friend is dead- following mental and physical disability. My feelings aren't hurt and it still amazes me the lengths some may go to feel offended (let alone on the internet), and I live in California.

 

[pullya]

I didn't go to any great lengths at all. It is my opinion and the opinion of many people I know. You have a right to your own opinion, and living in Cal. may or may not have anything to do with it. Maybe we are just in a different age group and have different life experiences and teachings.

Jay

 

[scootergmc]

I didn't go to any great lengths at all. It is my opinion and the opinion of many people I know. You have a right to your own opinion, and living in Cal. may or may not have anything to do with it. Maybe we are just in a different age group and have different life experiences and teachings.

Jay

But you did go to great lengths... you openly presented your opinion and imposed it on another member, asking him not to use the word "retard. " You could've PM'd him, expressing your offended nature, and the reasons behind it. But the fact we all have to change our mannerisms and speech because someone somewhere might be offended is, well, not something I agree with.



That is my opinion. You have yours, and after all, I doubt we are all that different. Take it easy!

 

[fest3er]

... The word you choose is offensive to many people that have either a family member or friend that has a mental or physical disability... .

Yes. These people are entitled to their dignity, and to compare a bully and someone who refuses to be bullied to such folks is just plain low and mean-spirited.



"A Democrat and a Republican", or "a rattlesnake and a mongoose" would be acceptable, inoffensive descriptions. The latter description is apt, and those in the former are too low to worry about offending.

 

[Cowboy Medic]

As a person who serves as both a Paramedic and as a Police Officer, I have some feelings for both sides. I think both were wrong and that there should definitely have been a better resolution.



First of all, there is no call, no matter how life threatening that calls for putting others in danger. If you kill yourself or someone else by wrecking en route to a call you have tripled the problem, now you have two calls that need others to respond to and you have removed yourself from being a resource to deal with those problems. Remember that driving with lights and sirens is a REQUEST for the right of way not a demand. If someone is not moving out of the way, assume they do not hear you, see your, or are blatantly rude. Irregardless you do not dumb yourself down to that level and make the situation worse. You continue to keep your emergency equipment properly activated and you wait until you can safely manuever around the vehicle and continue to your call. The thing I tell any new emergency worker is that when you are responding, your are responding to THEIR emergency, it is not YOUR emergency. Stay professional.



I do support running emergently to the stolen vehicle incident. They rank highly in situations that will pose a risk to officers and the public when being handled. Again, running emergently does not mean recklessly. Adrenaline flows when you are responding to calls and even cops are human, to this point, I would say bring the trooper in and remind him of this and to take that step back and evaluate better in those situations. Drive defensively and use better judgement in the future.



It appears the ambulance did need to remain in the roadway to avoid the car and pulled over appropriately afterwards. The trooper may or may not have noticed this. It is possible that with the adrenaline and frustration he may have tunnel visoned on the ambulance. This would be an excellent learning tool to take him aside and ask him about the car and see if he remembers it at all, then show him the video.



Now we are past the ambulance and he gets released from the stolen vehicle call. My opinion, the trooper is WRONG to go and try and stop the ambulance. If he knows the name of the service, the appropriate action would be to call the service and speak to a supervisor, explain your concerns that the ambulance did not yield, report the finger gesture if it happened, and then ask that the supervisor do his part to check on the situation and get back to you. If he did not know the name of the service, then you can certainly look for the vehicle, find the name and then return to the proper use of the agency's supervisor. If appropriate you can always send a warrant request to the State's Attorney's Office and allow charges to be brought that way. This would allow a cool and unbiased eye to view the situation and decide the most appropriate response to the problem.



Remember Laws are a tool. They are just one of many possible responses to a situation. They are desinged to promote peace and harmony in the community and to provide a proscribed course of action to address anything that runs contrary to this. If an officer can handle a situation or offense, even if clearly a criminal offense by lesser means and be reasonably assured that the situation can be resolved, then he should. If he cannot express confidence that the action can be resolved peacefully outside the courts and within the boundaries of his authority then the officer should feel obligated to act and enforce the laws fairly and without personal bias.



The point of emphasis that I would have for this is that you have to remember that 99. 9% of the people who work in emergency services, whether they are Police, Fire or EMS, are very good people who want to do the right thing. They work in high stress jobs. They are human, if they make a mistake, help them address it. That should be the goal with any enforcement action, to resolve the problem at the lowest level.



From this point on, I do not think there is anything that can be said. It is a criminal matter that should be investigated by an independent agency. Charges should be legitimately considered for all of the actors and brought or dismissed as appropriate by an unbiased eye that is able to view ALL of the available evidence.



My point in posting all of this is to remind any who read this that this is the rare bad apple. I would ecourage all of you to remember that most of the people working the streets are good people. Police, Fire, EMS, all of them.

'I hold my law enforcement powers on behalf of the people. Through my professional and personal example, I shall demonstrate that I respect them and I shall strive to realize their high expectations of me.



I am sworn to protect them and I shall enforce their laws in good faith, fairly, with courage and integrity, to the best of my ability.



In so doing, I shall build their trust and confidence in the law.



I shall never betray them by wilfully abusing my powers, authority or knowledge.



To these ends, I serve the people'. ​

This trooper did not meet this and I am not angry as he is human as all of us are, but I am saddened and I hope that he is not given another opportunity to dull the badge.



Jon

 

[Chief USA]

Jon,



Well said INDEED! I wish your mind set and values could be transfered to the rest of the law enforcement community.



VERY SADLY you are indeed the RARE good apple. Unfortunately the law enforcement community is in crisis right now and is overwhelmed with NOT so rare bad apples. Think not????? Just do a google search "police officer arrested" or "police officer indicted' and then click on the news or latest news tab... ... ... . you will be shocked at the number of stories that pop up about corrupt, violent, and unacceptable police officers. I am NOT talking about a few odd stories... ... . I am talking about 100's of stories nationwide each week.



I am NOT anti-police or law enforcement... ... ... . I AM INDEED however PRO professional standards, ethical, constitutional, morally responsible police and law enforcement.



This OK highway patrol trooper is just an example of a cancer in our law enforcement nationwide. GOOD cops report and take action against cops who violate the law, abuse their authority, and engage in corrupt or unprofessional acts. The problem is that the law enforcement community has for the most part incorporated and developed a corporate culture or code of NEVER report, say, or do anything about or against another cop regardless of the circumstances. This sadly creates the atomosphere and situation in which the police are unable to police or regulate themselves.



In this particular instance, an OK Highway patrol trooper unlawfully stopped, apprehended, threatened, and assaulted an ambulance crew enroute in an emergency to a hospital WHILE armed. Any regular citizen having committed such a crime would be charged at a minimum with aggravated assault, unlawful restraint, and making terroristic threats and acts.



At the MOST, this Napoleanic, psychopathic, domestic terrorist will get FIRED and I doubt that will happen... ... . making a verbal or written "counceling or reprimand" more likely.



If the public is to have confidence and trust in the law and those sworn to enforce it, these rogue terrorist cops MUST be criminally and civily prosecuted to the fullest extent possible in the law. In so doing, this would lend HUGE credence and credibility to the words in the sworn oaths to the public law enforcement officers swear to.



The other cancer eating law enforcement nationwide is the OUTRAGEOUS and SOVIET/Stalinist Style "militarization" of police agencies across the nation.

I expect to see foreign terrorists or the "Fedayeen Saddam"

in hoods and masks, wearing military uniforms with bloused boots, carrying fully automatic firearms, grenades, and other weapons of WAR... ... ... ... NOT CIVILIAN law enforcement. Police ARE CIVILIANS... ... ... . they need to behave and dress as such and be part of the community and NOT self appointed SHEEP DOGS who heard the SHEEPLE. My view on this has NOTHING to do with an axe to grind against military war veterans as I am one myself from Desert Storm. Military veterans who behave like this Napoleanic tyrant OK Highway patrol trooper make this issue even worse since they have sworn a LIFE TIME oath to support and defend the constution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Our beloved military and the PEOPLE ARE the last line of defense to tyrants, and an oppressive, tyrannical government.



Yes, I fully understand the cops are people too and any one of us can have a bad day under the right circumstances. When guys like this OK trooper have a bad day, people typically get beaten, tortured with tasers or chemical weapons, shot, or falsely arrested.



With great power comes GREAT RESPONSIBILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY... ... ..... the responsibility and accountability thing just does not seem to be working out very well so far.

 

[Cowboy Medic]

While I cannot disagree that you can easily search and locate stories about bad officers, I would still argue that they are the rare bad apples. The really sad part is that an officer can go out and save lives every day and that just isn't news. It is what the people expect, so it doesn't sell papers or get ratings. Out of the hundreds of thousands of Law Enforcement Officers even a few hundred bad ones represent fewer than 0. 5% of all of us.



Unfortunately those 0. 5% will get 100% more coverage from the media than the good ones do. It is nothing new, it has been that way for years. There are high expectations that the public has for its officers, this results in that much more disappointment and resentment when they fail.



An example that I have been successful with in the past is this. Every time you see an article about a bad officer. I am not talking about someone you think was rude or could have been more professional, but truly bad ones like this trooper. Do a search and see how many officers are a part of the same department. Then if possible see if they have ever had any line of duty deaths and then compare them.



For example the search that I did, found that the Oklahoma State Troopers run approximately 800 active duty sworn officers. This would mean that the bad trooper here represents 0. 00125 % of the active sworn service just in Oklahoma. Now there is always the possibility that there are more bad apples, but until they prove themselves unworthy, they are entitled to the same innocent until proven guilty rights that all citizens have.



Since its inception in 1937 with 125 officers, there have been 33 Troopers killed in the line of duty. I would challenge you to locate 32 other Oklahoma State Troopers over that same time period who can legitimately be shown to have conducted themselves as badly as the trooper at the beginning of this thread. I was not able to.



Additionally you have 125 troopers in 1937 and 800 in 2009. This represents an annual increase of 9. 5 troopers per year average. Added up this represents 34,100 man years worth of service provided by troopers. If you have all troopers working a full 20 years of service without leaving early you have a minimum represented number of troopers being 1705. We all know that Law Enforcement has a very high turnover rate. Most statistics show that 2/3 of the people who are hired in law enforcement will be out of law enforcement 5 years later. Based on that you would have a roughly accurate number of 568 Troopers that actually worked to full retirement and an additional 4548 Troopers that filled the remaining man years. This would represent 5116 different people to have worn the uniform of an Oklahoma State Trooper. This does not take into account the years not completed or served by the downed Troopers.



This means that the fallen troopers represent . 00645% (rounded) of the estimated number of men to wear the uniform and that the bad trooper represents . 0002% (rounded).



Even with the minimum estimated number of troopers to have served you would find that the bad apple here is representative of only . 0006%.



In fact to find enough bad officers to represent my initial estimate of even 1/2 of 1% of just the history of the Oklahoma State Troopers you would need to identify 85 other bad troopers. and if you factor in the higher number of likely to have served troopers you would need to find 255 bad troopers.



The most recent statistic I found for nationwide showed 675,734 sworn, non-federal Law Enforcement Officers. The highest number of arrested active duty officers that I could find was from 1989 and showed a total of 9,485 Officers arrested for Offenses above a normal traffic ticket. This is indicative of approximately 182 officers per week. This represents . 014% of all of those sworn officers, and this was in the highest year. You would need to see a weekly average of 650 arrested officers to meet that 1/2 of 1% I mentioned at the beginning of the post.



So again, yes I agree you can pull hundreds of stories every week. I still feel strongly that the very vast majority of Law Enforcement Officers are good people, deserving of respect and that the statistics bear that out.



My argument remains, this trooper is the rare bad apple, and while I appreciate the compliment you have given me about my mindset and values, I feel you do a great disservice to the many many many good law enforcement officers who are out there every day in this country. I cannot in good conscience allow that to go unchallenged.



Officers should live under a microscope and be held to high standards. It is part of the challenge they accept when they go into the job. I am in no way trying to defend this trooper or any other person who dishonors the badge. I am however trying to defend the honor of the thousands of good officers who already have enough hurdles to overcome.



I could go on about the Blue Wall of Silence as some call it and the more military style tactics and dress you see now, but then this post would become a book. I feel that if we can cross the first bridge and get more people to understand and appreciate the overall good quality of the law enforcement community. Then you will have planted the seed that will grow into the tree that cracks the foundation of that Blue Wall. I will say this, having been on both sides, it is all about trust and understanding. If we can get rid of the US vs. THEM mentality that exists on both sides, we will then be able to go on to bigger and better things.



I reiterate, please do not let the few bad ones unduly influence you and unfairly prejudice you to the many many good ones that are out there. I would challenge you to not think of me as the rare good apple. In reality everyday you can look in that barrel of apples and you have the choice on whether you want to look for a good one or a bad one.



Thank you again for your compliment. Even if you do not agree with my response, I hope you will appreciate that I have attempted to present a legitimate, thoughtful and prepared argument.

 

[KevinSmith]

2 retards. Neither of which should be doing anything other than collecting movie ticket stubs. Cop for getting angry that the ambulance took more than 3 seconds to pull over and the ambulance supervisor for getting involved in something that was none of his business

I disagree with the comment on the Paramedic. As the highest medically trained person there he is ultimately legally responsible for the care and wellbeing of the patient. The Paramedic was getting involved in order to expedite his patient to the hospital. The Trooper has full authority in the state. He could easily followed them to the hospital and ,after the care for the patient was transferred to the hosital, arrested either of the ambulance crew. The Trooper really screwed up.