Oklahoma Highway Patrol and Paramedic Confrontation

[Dustdevil]

I stand corrected about Charley thanks although I believe I have been introduced to Mr Daniels

Let's not get too confused here.

Charlie Daniels sings.

Jack Daniels makes you sing.

[island emt]

It's time to send this trooper to the spay & neuter clinic for a tune-up for his aggessive tendancies !

[Chief1C]

Jack Daniels makes you sing.

He makes me roll around on the floor, trying to grab hold of something, so I don't roll off the edge of the Earth.

[VentMedic]

http://www.emsresponder.com/article/articl...p;siteSection=1

Rough Reputations Revealed in Trooper, Medic Scuffle

Embattled rescuers had been fired from other jobs

RON JACKSON AND SHEILA STOGSDILL, Staff Writers

The Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, OK)

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper Daniel Martin and Creek Nation paramedic Maurice White Jr. - two men thrust into the national media spotlight after a May 24 scuffle - have reputations as bullies and histories of confrontation, former supervisors and employment documents revealed.

Martin's defense attorney, Gary James, portrayed him last week as a loving family man and an "American hero" who recently returned from Iraq after a tour of duty as a U.S. naval reservist. Residents of the rural Osage County town of Fairfax have dramatically different recollections of Martin, who was their police chief from March 1999 to July 2000.

Martin's tenure ended in Fairfax with a unanimous vote for his firing.

"Yeah, I remember him," store clerk Linda Burgess said. "That's a sore subject around here. He left quite an imprint on this community, and not a good one, either. He was a bully with an attitude.

"And he was always pulling people over and using the f-word."

James could not be reached for comment.

White, meanwhile, was fired in June 2004 by Muskogee County EMS after more than 11 years of employment. EMS director Terri Mortensen criticized White in a termination letter, citing his "unprofessional behavior" toward her and "misuse of authority over your subordinates." The letter listed other reasons for his termination:

Failure to complete run sheets in a timely manner.

Short notice on cancellation of teaching assignment.

Failure to schedule a relief EMT to cover his shift while he taught a class in a timely manner.

White responded by filing a complaint of racial discrimination with the NAACP, the Muskogee Phoenix newspaper reported at the time. The newspaper further reported the organization originally supported White's cause but later reversed its decision. The NAACP reportedly reviewed the EMS policy and White's termination letter, and concluded he had committed a fireable offense.

Forty of White's former co-workers wrote a letter to the editor of the Muskogee Phoenix in support of White's firing.

When asked about the termination, White's attorney, Richard O'Carroll, responded by saying, "Mr. White declines to engage in this process even though some of the information is inaccurate, incomplete and/or taken out of context. Martin is asking folks not to believe their lying eyes. When you have neither a defense, nor a sense of shame, you simply engage in character assassination."

White was respected in other quarters. In Siloam Springs, Ark., he completed a one-year contract in 1992 as a paramedic for the fire department.

Siloam Springs Fire Chief Jimmy Harris remembered White as "a good medic" and someone "pleasant to be with."

Gary Padgett, who supervised White as a paramedic in Harrison, Ark., in 1991 remembered him as "a pleasant young man" and a true professional.

Martin, meanwhile, served the Stillwater Police Department from October 2000 to March 2007 before being hired by the patrol, Stillwater Police Chief Norman McNickle said. The chief said he was legally restricted from discussing Martin's work history.

But no one expressed such concerns in Fairfax.

Longtime Fairfax barber shop owner Linda Bevill, who cut Martin's hair, described him as a bullish man who ran off teenagers from cruising Main Street and constantly accused people of drinking alcohol during traffic stops.

Former board of trustees member Ted Smith remembered Martin as someone who "didn't take orders very well."

Smith recalled one incident he witnessed in which two handcuffed teenagers were lying face down on the sidewalk. Martin stood over one of the youngsters with his pistol aimed at the youth's head.

"Yeah, we had a lot of trouble with him," Smith said. "We're not surprised at all by what has happened.

" ... I always knew he'd be famous some day."

BACKGROUND

What's happened

→Cell-phone video captured by the son of an ambulance patient was placed on YouTube.

→The video shows state trooper Daniel Martin and paramedic Maurice White Jr. in a May 24 scuffle after Martin pulled over the ambulance in Paden.

→Martin accused the ambulance driver of making an obscene gesture at him, which the driver has denied. The driver was ticketed for failure to yield.

→The Oklahoma Highway Patrol released the dashboard camera video, in which more of the scuffle is seen.

→Martin's attorney portrayed his client as an American hero who just returned from service in Iraq.

→White's attorney responded by calling Martin a bully, and White went on national television to call for Martin to be stripped of his gun and badge.

[Dustdevil]

Anyone remember this?

Edited June 23, 2009 by Dustdevil

[VentMedic]

I posted that article to show that neither is without their own personality flaws.

What's with the double standard?

With all the crap that is happening in EMS to give it a bad rep in some areas, why aren't those in EMS calling for higher standards and better oversight with the same energy some on the many EMS forums are putting into bashing a few LEOs? Imagine what could be achieved if that energy could be directed to turn EMS into a highly respected profession with adequate education.

Granted, LEOs should be held to a higher standard as professionals but why shouldn't those in EMS also strive for that? Some are criticizing a profession few in EMS know very little about like they have all the right answers and yet look the other way or get upset if someone dares to hold those in EMS to a higher standard.

Both the EMT-P and the LEO wrote their own stories. The both have histories and quite possibly have had previous encounters. Both are grown men and have no one else to blame but themselves for the situations they have been in and are in now.

Did the Paramedic also not think his past would be scrutinized by his TV appearance publicly bashing the LEO? Everything will be fair game now and it is shameful that this incident could not have been settled under different terms. But no, we must hear from good friends of friends of those involved to continue to fuel the rage against the OHP.

[Dustdevil]

I don't see it as a double standard at all, because the situations are not similar.

There is a major difference between a paramedic who isn't well liked by his co-workers, and a cop who is despised by the public he serves. If the medic had a serious history of complaints by police officers, it would be a more similar situation.

I've been that medic that nobody wanted to work with. People go to 3 weeks of first aid school so they can get a low-pay, low effort glory job. They don't like it when they get a partner who actually expects them to function professionally, and they're always likely to decide that they'd rather work with the partner who doesn't make them participate in the actual work part of the job, or insists that they do things the right way, instead of taking shortcuts. That doesn't mean that medic is anti-cop or a violent hot-head.

Conversely, the history we are hearing on this cop is directly relevant to the situation at hand.

[Chief1C]

-10 for walking out into traffic... with his back to the flow.

[Michael]

I'm tempted to say +10 for walking out into traffic with his back to the flow.

[CBEMT]

I've been that medic that nobody wanted to work with.

This I simply refuse to believe.

When I got my ALS license, the first thing our scheduling supervisor said to me was "Don't too anal, aight? I don't want to have to always be getting you a new partner."

I took it as a compliment.