What would you do??? COP vs FIRE CAPTAIN

This video is about 5yrs old but def brings up a good converstation piece. What would you do if a cop tried to arrest you for doing your job? In this video (some of you have prob seen before) a cop arrests a Captain for not moving his wagon from blocking the scene of a MVA on a highway. Upon arrival the Captain goes right to the vehicle to assist with patient care. The cop is seen immediately going to the officer's side window and ordering the chauffer to move the apparatus. Then after the cop orders that, you see the Captain go back to the wagon and tell him to keep it where it is and do not move it. After this goes down the Captain goes back to patient care, and the cop again orders the chauffer to move the wagon, then comes up from behind the Captain and attemts to arrest him. A few words are exchanged and then slaps the cuffs on the Captain and takes him to the police are. You even see another firefighter explain to the cop to keep it apparatus where it is, and in frustration throw his arms up in the air. What are your feelings on this situation?

My feelings are... we are taught, and constantly reinforcing "SAFETY, SAFETY. SAFETY FIRST", I would rather have my apparatus get hit by a speeding vehicle than have my personel get injured or killed. We see it way too often, fire apparatus getting hit by a vehicle or close calls with motorists either not paying attention or under the influence. The apparatus is replaceable, lives are not... the cop should know better since cops are as if not more vulnerable when they have a car pulled over on the side of the road and being struck. I believe the Captain did exactly what he was supposed to do and I would have done the exact same thing... even if I knew the cop would arrest me. In the end I believe the cop was sued by the Captain for the incident, with the Captain winning in court.

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Comment by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on October 20, 2008 at 9:54pm: This case went to court where it was immediately dismissed.
It should have never gotten to that point, but at least, the judge had the wisdom and common sense to see the error in judgment on the part of the LEO and ruled in favor of the FD captain.
I like happy endings.
TCSS.
Art

Comment by Rich on October 20, 2008 at 8:07pm: In NJ, the Fire Officer in charge is ranking officer for the incident. UNLESS that has changed, this is the protocol we go by. We had an incident on the NJTP, where a State Trooper ignored the "request" of our Chief and we put a call into the NJSP HQ, where the circumstance was rectified. Of course, the incident escalated while the "wheels of justice" turned, but the point was made without any lawyers involve.

Comment by BillySFCVFD on October 20, 2008 at 7:07pm: The case is over and the Captain won. It's all hindsight now. There is two sides of every story and I leaned toward the FD but would like to know what the cop was thinking. TCSS

Comment by Paul Montpetit on October 20, 2008 at 5:46pm: I would 1st bail out my Captain...then I would contact the watch commande of the Officer...and if no satisfaction the press would be next....My peoples safety far outweigh any inconvenience of slowing traffic in my book......Paul

Comment by BillySFCVFD on October 20, 2008 at 5:12pm: Nick,

I have seen the article before and it's hard to believe that two professionals would end up in court over any situation. I don't know much more about it then what you wrote either. By looking at the video it is possible that the FD vehicle stopped in the only unblocked lane on the roadway. More then likely the LEO was at the scene for criminal investigation and traffic control and wanted traffic moving. The police car, with camera, was blocking the other lane but not up close enough to the scene to be effective.The Captain saw the gap and more then likely wanted to close it to protect the scene and be close enough to help. A possibility to avoid all of this would be that the Captain and LEO officer coordinate so that the PD car was repositioned and the FD truck used instead, being a larger blocker, clearing up any traffic jam. If the LEO was at the scene first, I believe so looking at the video, and would have been more familiar with it, he should have anticipated and then initiated the coordination and not escalated it to an arrest. TCSS

Comment by firefighter1and2 on October 20, 2008 at 5:11pm: Sounds like it might head to court, and the donut eating coffee drinking probie cop will lose. gotta love stupid a-- cops