Highly doubtful you’d ever see Ponch and John from CHiPs involved in a fiasco like this, but sadly that’s the fictional realm of television. The real world is far sillier and annoying, with this situation sitting as a perfect example. From NPR:
As San Diego’s , an argument broke out between a California Highway Patrol officer and a firefighter from Chula Vista, as they clashed over where the Chula Vista crew’s fire engine should be stationed. Firefighters had placed their vehicle along the center road divider, close to where a car had flipped over, and behind an ambulance. Emergency personnel tended to the car’s two occupants as the conflict went on around them…
The firefighter, Jacob Gregoire, 36, was held in the police car for about 30 minutes before being released, CBS 8 says. The station posted video showing Gregoire talking to the news crew to be sure they knew what was taking place.
“Hey, I just want to let you know, he’s arresting me for not moving the fire truck,” Gregoire can be heard yelling.
I think the worst parts here are that they placed in the cruiser as he was assisting the victims and then decided to let him go thirty minutes later. The clear cut fact here is that the situation is ridiculous. So ridiculous that NPR and The Blaze actually agreed on a topic and posted stories about it.
Chula Vista Fire Chief Dave Hanneman released a statement on the incident and officials from the CHP and Chula Vista PD will be meeting to discuss the incident. From the statement:
In an emergency, the Chula Vista Fire Department is responsible for the safety and care of the injured victims and for the safety of the crew. Our goal at an emergency is to secure the scene and begin emergency care and transport victims to the hospital as soon as possible. Last night, there were two injured passengers our crew needed to reach and treat in a rollover vehicle accident on Interstate 805. One of our firefighters on the scene was detained by the California Highway Patrol. I am very proud of how Engineer Jacob Gregoire and the other firefighters on the scene handled the situation. While we work very well together with the CHP 99% of the time, we need to find out what happened last night and how we can improve training and communication to prevent something like this from happening in the future
So what do you think? Is it a vendetta between police and firemen, the oldest of rivalries? Is it truly just an isolated incident as officials are reporting to the public? Or is this another example of an officer allowing his badge to go to his head?
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(Lead image via KMFB-TV / The Blaze)