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Oklahoma Highway Patrol: more questions as EMT tells CBS trooper should be fired
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Despite attorney Gary James' fulsome praise of OHP trooper Daniel Martin, shown here putting a choke hold on paramedic Maurice White, most of my readers think that Martin should be fired.
So does White, who was interviewed on CBS today. He said:
The bottom line is that at this point we would like to take his badge and gun away because of the total disregard he showed for this patient and because of the statements yesterday.....he doesn't think he did anything wrong...and neither does his superiors.
White's hit on something important in this whole sorry mess--Martin's Oklahoma Highway Patrol superiors, and District Attorney Max Cook,don't think that Martin did anything wrong. And the stonewalling, "the cop is always right" approach has itself created an escalation that now risks the reputation of all Oklahoma peace officers and our state itself.
This is a total management fail. First, although notified by phone of the incident while it was ongoing, and participating in discussions by phone--according to Martin's attorney, Gary James--the OHP did not dispatch a supervisor to the scene. Instead, they let it play out in full public view.
Luckily for White, and Oklahoma citizens, a relative of the woman being transported to hospital captured Martin's attack on White on cellphone video. Despite that, the OHP refused to released the dash cam video for almost three weeks.
Another fail: Oklahoma and the OHP do not consider trooper's dash cam videos to be a matter of public record. Indeed? Then who's playing their bills, other than the public? It's amazing that police in action can appear on TV shows, dash cam videos from other officers are seen, but in Oklahoma, the OHP and the state believe that tax-paying citizens have no right to oversee the actions of their employees--i.e. state troopers.
Apparently, "government in the sunshine," as it was called decades ago when I used those protections to gain information, doesn't apply in Oklahoma. And that's a major blow to not only the state's image,but the protections afforded to citizens.
I have no doubt that White would have wound up in a jail cell had the family video not been taken. In fact, Cook clearly stated that he did look at pursuing charges against White, and that he had never considered charges against anyone other than White.
After the outcry, Cook backed down. Finally, after Freedom of Information requests from media, the OHP unbent and begrudgingly released the video.
All along, I'd suspected that the video had even more damning evidence of trooper misconduct than the family video. Sure enough, the totality of the video proves White's contention: Martin emerged from his squad car in a state of rage.
There's trouble, my friends, right here in Okie City, and it starts with "t" and it stands for Trooper (with a nod to The Music Man). Martin and his superiors have hit a discordant mash-up of sour notes that have tarred our state and its police officers with not just a brush, but a spray gun.
Yesterday, James' commentary would have had you believe that the kindly, polite Martin. a "hometown hero", advised White three times to go back inside the ambulance and take care of the patient. But if you view the video, there's nothing advisory about it. As Martin begins by yelling that he's not going to "take thiss*"--a reference to his claims of an obscene gesture--and then tells White to "get your a*" and "get your butt" into the ambulance.
This is what James calls a "command voice" and says is appropriate behavior. What he failed to address--the fact that Martin himself broke Oklahoma law by interfering with an ambulance. James' viewpoint is that because the ambulance did not have lights and siren on that it was the same as a private vehicle.
It's apparent that if you ride in an ambulance in Oklahoma, you'd best demand that lights and sirens be blaring even if you're not in immediate danger, lest you find yourself stopped by the side of the road in Oklahoma heat in a tin can while an out-of-control cop rages. The nitpicking about lights and sirens is another fail--a desperate attempt to try and blow smoke over a major officer mistake compounded many times over by management.
We've had vigorous discussion on my articles over the white car and whether or not the ambulance failed to pull over. Now I'm asking you to take a look at the official dash cam video and answer this question--did Martin cross a solid line into the far lane on a blind section of a crest?
Sandusky County (Ohio) Politics Examiner Michael Stahl has a personal viewpoint of the laws involved.
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