Trooper Fights Paramedics With Patient Still In Ambulance (VIDEO)

Oklahoma's Tulsa World newspaper reports on a bizarre scuffle this past week after a highway patrol officer pulled over an ambulance that was carrying a patient headed for the hospital, but didn't have its siren on.

The patrolman apparently intended to issue a 'failure to yeild' citation to the ambulance driver, and was angered when he believed one of the paramedics gave him a middle finger.

Despite being told that the woman in the ambulance needed to get to the hospital, the trooper insisted that one of the paramedics be detained in his car. When he tried to handcuff a paramedic, a fight ensued, which was filmed by the husband of the patient.

Eventually the patrolman allowed the ambulance to go to the hospital. An investigation over the incident "has been turned over to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol's Internal Affairs Unit and a county prosecutor," the Tulsa World reports.

Read the full story here, or watch video:

Comments

[kalerik]

Just watched it a second time and am even more angry. Disgusting display of racism. These guys should be fired immediately and charged with assault. I'm just glad for once it wasn't in Texas. We have enough yahoos here.

[TXfemmom]

Racism had nothing to do with it. These cops would have acted just as irresponsibly irrespective of the race of the paramedic.

[pragmaticdallasite]

How do you know? Psychic? Please

[ms.cougar]

nothing is racist when the background is white, this is a white on black crime

[Betrayed]

Exactly what was RACIST about this incident?
You're looking for what's not there, Kalerik.

[pragmaticdallasite]

I don't know if it was or not, but on the surface I think it's a reasonable conclusion to draw. There where two paramedics and they appeared to take a completely different approach with the white vs. black paramedic. And what was up with him having his hands on his throat for a long time while he's standing up? Why are cops so quick to start choking someone?

Who knows if it's racism, but it looks like it could be.

[ms.cougar]

what is there?

[NPA]

Giving someone the middle finger is protected under FREEDOM OF SPEECH!

Law: 101

[cruckk]

What is going on with Police in America? I always knew it has been like this (and worst) for sometimes. But, this is outrageous! Dont they know everyone has cameras now!

[BobEvansZombie]

Yet another reason why you shouldn't trust cops.

[kalerik]

Oklahoma is more red than Texas. I would never, ever live there, send my kid to college there, or even visit that hellhole.

[degas]

Outlaws with guns and badges = Public Enemy #1

[liberal]

You said it !

[helen]

Welcome to Oklahoma.

[BrotherOrchid]

When the wires, post stories like these they seldom mention race?. As if the race of the officer, and the race of the “perp” were completely irrelevant?. Without even reading the story I know one thing for sure?, the race of the person who captured the video (white), because a black citizen would be in serious danger, if they tried to film police misconduct. The Police rage would quickly turn to the innocent black citizen, and almost certainly the innocent black citizen filming the event would be arrested (to seize the video). The camera (and the damaging video) could then “mysteriously” disappear from police custody, and aided by an apathetic media, the story/case would “die” for lack of evidence, threats, and harassment are also standard tactics employed against citizens that take action to expose the violent , criminal behavior of the Police(state). Last, but not least, Police know that fists, jack-boots, and nightsticks often serve are the perfect tools to soften “thick skulls”, and to silence chatty mouths.

[Kybernaught]

Ummmmmm........ Brother Orchid....... maybe you SHOULD read the article and then WATCH the video. There you will see the man filming it when he shows himself on the camera in the first 30 secs. If you did watch it you would realize how wrong your misconceptions are. The cameraman was African-American.

[GravitonX]

This is very true. How many incidents have happened when a camera was not present or out of site of the "police" cam?

That said, we as Black people are going to have to get alot smarter. We know that most cops are racist, yet in light of this, we should not give them an opportunity to escalate the situation and claim that they were "allowed" to use deadly force because we "resisted arrest." We have to get smarter and start controlling the situation.

[GeneralDisarray]

alot of words for someone who CLEARLY didn't see the video.

[ENOS]

Brother Orchird, you seem to be full of pre-determined expectations.. so much so that you failed to notice that the cameraman was african-american "black" , not euro-american "white".

[mwoman]

Hm.. Interesting and visual conclusion.

[Yancey3]

Ambulances are run by private companies and they do not have the right to disobey traffic laws when on non-emergency runs. The article clearly states the ambulance had neither its lights nor its siren on when pulled over.

And how is a cop supposed to know a patient was in the ambulance?

[pragmaticdallasite]

Don't they have radio contact? How about when they pulled him over? They could have released them then, followed to the hospital and had a discussion there. What about him choking that guy?

[scottymac11]

What crime did the driver commit?
They knew a patient was on board when they were told of her. They could have seen for themselves. What they did was disregard her safety and harass the driver. All because they didn't like the drivers attitude.
We make jokes about thought police. I see OK. actually has them.

[dimplesmile7]

The driver was white. If the sirens were not on, shouldn't the driver be questioned? Why was he excluded in this stop?

[devans00]

And this somehow excuses the police from trying to wring the neck of the non-driving EMT?

[swan1]

The white man drives, the black man is choked, sounds normal to me. This is why the police are so hated. If it wasn't for video and phonecams, they would get away with murder. Oh wait, they do already.

[stargazer13]

I thought ambulance,s had the right of way

[Yancey3]

It had neither its lights nor its siren on and they cannot disobey traffic laws in non-emergency situations.

[pragmaticdallasite]

This is true, but if the cops where that pissed they could have followed the ambulance to the hospital and then had a dialogue. Or they could have had a dialogue over the radio, either way their actions where in my humble opinion clearly wrong.

[pragmaticdallasite]

Is the black man allowed to raise his voice at the officer? Apparently not, do you see anything wrong with the cops behavior? Where they completely correct in the way they handled it?

[blukazoo]

They do when they run lights and sirens--Not sure why the driver didn't have them on...

[crabhill]

This sort of behavior by cops is common across the country, Cops rule and we the citizens are at their mercy especially if you are young and black. I do not believe that the majaority are "good" or they would give up the "few" bad apples and get the respect that the 'good' one deserve.

[Gorsegrower]

Power corrupts, but authority corrupts even more dramatically.

[pragmaticdallasite]

authority = power

[hapaglloyd]

The officer seemed high-strung ,thuggish and uneducated----a backwoods man if you will. This video got over one million hits on u-tube. This cop has done unlimited damage.

[winningticket]

And I'm sure OK Senator Inhofe is asking. "where's the outrage to the outrage?" as he did with Abu Graib.

[modernsage]

some foolish White cops are becoming a disgrace to the policeforce nationwide.They are shooting down fellow black officers, harrasing black paramedics etc.These are just criminals in uniform!It is like they have never studied basic law.This pattern has somewhat increased since the election of President Obama.So imagine that!What are they trying to prove by executing black people and harrassing black professionals?What are they trying to say?I find this behaviour very unprofessional , and jeorpadising the life of the patient bad judgment.Had the patient been white this would not have happened.These fools need to be fired and jailed.This is not law enforcement!One would expect something like this to happen in Falujah not in the US?

[UnbiasedinSWPA]

Although I hope that race had nothing to do with this incident, I have to agree with you modernsage. The 'trend' does seem to have increased since Obama became Our President.

Then again, this type of situation has probably been going on for a long time, these cops just happened to get caught on camera. And as if what they did to the EMT wasn't bad enough, they add insult to injury with total disregard to the woman in the back of the ambulance. It's sickening and totally unacceptable.

[tonewheel]

"The 'trend' does seem to have increased since Obama became Our President. "

Really? Can you provide a link, or let us know where you uncovered that information?

[Robespierre]

More than likely they did not study basic law. Lets not forget that we are discussing Oklahoma here, one of the more ignorant states in the union.

[hapaglloyd]

I thought the same thing yesterday, the police violence against black citizens seemed to have increased after Obama won. I believe many white cops are angry that we have an AA President and are taking it out on the citizens.

[mwoman]

I'm telling you... ever since Obama got elected there has been a spike in hate groups. Especially racists, but also those like the guy who murdered Dr. George Tillet. I have no idea what's going on, why this has happened, but it has. Republicans are terrified of what's happening, because all these nuts are coming from their party...right-wingers. But, you know what? They will fail because the country has been mobilized. We are undergoing a social revolution. Exciting.

[pragmaticdallasite]

the root of the problem is The Ego. Many white citizens in this country are insecure and bitter about their lack of success. A man from what they deem an inferior race/culture has risen from nothing and become leader of the nation they love. This threatens their ego and gives them no excuse for their own failures.