Just came across this case where a California Highway Patrol officer tried to arrest a firefighter in the midst of treating people injured in a traffic incident, simply because he refused to move a fire engine that was blocking a lane of traffic on the highway to protect first responders and the patients they were attending to.
as a firefighter myself, I would have reminded the cop we outrank them (at least in my state) when it comes to this kind of scene safety. Would have prob been arrested because indeed ACAB.
that cop is a power tripping bastard. all of them are.
What kind of recourse would you have in that situation, if the world were still sane? Would your supervisors hash it out, would the judge to look at the case and throw it out, would you even expect it to get all the way to court, etc?
This issue isn’t what would happen to the firefighter, it’s what would happen to the cop.
If you watch the video the issue is if the cop can claim qualified immunity to prevent themselves from being held accountable for violating the firefighters rights.
No prosecutor would fuck with the firefighter because no jury would convict.
I imagine what would happen is that the fire chief would go ballistic on the police chief until that officer was fired. That’s probably the best outcome that’s within the realm of possibility
“fired”
Fired on leave with pay you mean
exactly.
No prosecutor would file charges against against a firefighter in that case. It would almost certainly be thrown out and that cop would get chewed out pretty good.
would prob resolve with sop review from my chief to police and a few choice words. if beyond that, yeah, a court case.
Everywhere I’ve lived the cops, EMTs, and firefighters all hang out together. I’m sure they get to know each other being at the same scenes. Is it that way where you are? When you know ACAB it must be very hard to be a firefighter. Good for you.
we do not really hang with the cops, truly honestly. we have a small “city” of about 13k. a full volly fd and ems. paid cops. some of whom know my stance, I’m honest. others pretend to wanna be chummy at scenes, but we largely just ignore them or stick them on traffic.
I once did a rescue of a woman with a mental problem, she started her house on fire. admitted it to me. then punched me in the face. ran back in. I donned my mask and went and “kindly” dragged her out. into the hands of the cop who saw and arrested her.
cop got a “life saving” medal. hilarious and we fd side joke about it all the time. other cops? I’ve seen them do chest compressions for a long time cause they got there first and be sad after losing someone; I still don’t want them in charge of shit and know they come with an ever present chance of violence.
there are probably 3 “full” lefties on my dept, and we do our best to shut down any standard rhetoric you might imagine we hear from some of the more “redneck cosplay dip spitting yee haw” types in the dept. but after being in 20 years I truly don’t keep my mouth shut at all. recent example was a young ff who was “complaining” about some unhoused folks squatting in an apt bldg vacancy who would not let us in a 3rd time to the apt. I kindly reminded this kid, even if they don’t “own” it they still need a place to feel like they are safe. (I had what info I needed, this guy just needed to exercise some sort of power.). I shut him down, and after some reflection I think he realized what I meant cause his demeanor changed.
sorry to ramble! being a 1st responder is a huge part of what I consider “community mutual aid.”