The witch.
Posted on 02/17/2008 2:39:24 PM PST by Mr. Brightside
Missouri police officer fined $18,000 for arresting firefighter on emergency call
03:59 PM MST on Friday, February 15, 2008
(KMOV) -- A police officer in Hazelwood will have to pay thousands of dollars for getting into it with a firefighter while he was trying to help an accident victim.
News 4 obtained police video that shows the Hazelwood police officer arresting a fire captain while he's trying to move an injured driver.
It happened on Interstate 270 back in May of 2003.
Officer Todd Greeves wanted a fire truck moved to open up another lane of traffic.
The Robertson Fire Protection District Captain wanted the truck there to protect emergency workers.
Officer Greeves has been ordered to pay $18,000.
His attorney says he's disappointed and that his client's conduct was not malicious in any way.
And here’s what’s “telling”. I’m telling you not to reply or respond to me in any way whatsoever again. Got a problem with that? Your stupid thoughts aren’t worth anybody’s time.
Juror Betsy Vennemann said after the verdict, “We wanted to make a statement that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated.”
Capt. David Wilson won $7,500 in compensatory damages and $10,000 in punitive damages. Jurors, including a nun, said they went easy on the defendant, Officer Todd Greeves, because he has a family and they weren’t sure who would pay the bill.
Jurors interviewed after the verdict said their feeling about Greeves was reinforced during the punitive phase of the trial, when they heard there had been other complaints about him. An internal affairs investigation determined that Greeves used excessive force in a 2002 arrest, court documents show, and was the subject of several other complaints.
Welcome to Free Republic.
Do you like kitties?
Cheers!
That poster doesn’t deserve the kitties. He is making sense (at least on this topic, I have no idea of his other postings). Don’t judge all cops by a few bad apples...that’s a giant DUH. I guess you should sic the kitties on me as well.
Sounds to me like you are trying to intimidate him out of common sense.
You'll see why I asked about kitties.
Cheers!
The witch.
Let me be more clear because my previous statement wasn’t: It seems like you are trying to intimidate him and prevent him from exercising and expressing common sense.
Oh, ok. You really wanted to know if he liked kitties on a thread that has nothing to do with kitties. You weren’t suggesting that the Viking Kitties should seek him out.
It’s all clear now...
Kind of a double entendre.
Cheers!
Exactly, so why did you pretend you weren’t trying to sic the Viking Kitties on him?
If you’re gonna do it, at least have the conviction to hold your ground and not waffle and feign innocence. He is right about this issue, and I think you know that you were out of line even if you have personal issues with cops.
That’s all. Save the Viking Kitties for trolls not just people who disagree with you.
Look up the phrase double entendre -- I use it as a shot across the bow.
Cheers!
I don’t need to look it up because I know what it means and I know exactly what you are doing, and it isn’t cool.
Not malicious? Just deadly.
“The cop made reasonable request. One lane was adequate. The fire truck could have gone in front of the police vehicle. The arrest was over the top however.”
The firemene didn’t think the 5-6 feet from the stretcher to the next open lane was adequate. If I was there I would certainly agree with them.
According to the jury the arrest violated the fireman’s civil rights. It also jeopardized the care of the accident victim.
“Jurors interviewed after the verdict said their feeling about Greeves was reinforced during the punitive phase of the trial, when they heard there had been other complaints about him. An internal affairs investigation determined that Greeves used excessive force in a 2002 arrest, court documents show, and was the subject of several other complaints.”
And yet he’s still a cop.
Village roads are easier to close (more cross streets to divert traffic on), but we'll close anything to keep ourselves safe. If there's an accident, the fire chief will direct the fire police (an organization within the fire department; they are sworn officers of the peace) what we need closed, or reduced to a single lane, etc. This includes sections of the highway, knocking everyone off at an exit, especially during an accident in a winter storm. Sometimes a call will be dispatched just for the fire police, like for a flooded road. If we'll need a road closed for quite a while, eventually the state DOT will relieve them. Dispatch does a lot of the relaying of questions, if a law enforcement agency is wondering how much longer something will need to be closed. This are pretty cooperative about this stuff.
The village charter (Owego, NY) specifically says that all fire trucks, police, ambulances representing any hospital or other entity, and the US mail have right-of-way on village streets. Including the mail should show it to mean any official use and not just an 'emergency.' Though I don't know how far it would go in court, versus due regard and anything the state itself has to say about right of way.
I did. The cop. Drivers still had a lane to get through on the far left. I’ve seen dash cam videos of emergency workers nearly being hit or actually being hit, by a car coming along in the right hand lane and not paying attnention. The firetruck should have been left where it was to protect the workers.
AMEN !
Saw the video...The fire truck had stopped on a busy highway lane, the passenger/EMT guy got out, the truck stayed there..Apparently the cop told the driver to move the truck as it was blocking traffic and was at that point a road hazard...The EMT ignored him and so he was arrested...
Looks like the cop was right IMO..Principal is: get your emergency vehicle out of the right of way of traffic if at all possible...There had been lawsuits in NY State where the same thing happened and drivers were killed and injured..It’s the same principal here...
There really should be a federal highway safety standard for emergency vehicles, not just State by State...And the cop should appeal this as he was doing his job and a good one at that...
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