OHP’s Daniel Martin again on administrative leave. Oklahoma trooper in scuffle with EMS crew accused of excessive force in another case.
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From the AP:
An Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper previously suspended for scuffling with an ambulance attendant has been placed on paid administrative leave after being accused of using excessive force.
Holdenville resident Khristopher Douglas said he was at a friend’s home helping with renovations Saturday when troopers pulled up to handle an apparent traffic stop involving another man. Douglas said he was going inside when Trooper Daniel Martin demanded he move away from the house and come toward the street.
“I said why can’t I go inside and be safe, and he said ‘go to the street,’” Douglas said. “So I turned around and next thing I know that officer grabbed my arm and curl up like this while he’s beating me.”
Douglas’ friend, Jerry Ford, who owns the house where Saturday’s incident happened, said he saw Saturday’s confrontation and thinks Martin lost his temper.
Oklahoma Highway Patrol Capt. Chris West said Martin and another trooper, Tommy Allen, have been placed on paid administrative leave.
“That’ll give the department time to pull that stuff together, conduct an investigation and determine what cause of action will be required,” West said.
Martin previously served a five-day suspension, levied July 21, for ”conduct unbecoming an officer’’ for his role in a widely publicized scuffle with paramedic Maurice White Jr. on May 24. Martin had pulled a Creek Nation ambulance over in the Okfuskee County town of Paden while it was transporting a woman from Boley to Stroud.
The trooper said he believed the driver, Paul Franks, had made
an obscene gesture at him, and he wanted to talk to him. Franks denied giving him the finger.
White came out of the back of the ambulance and said he told Martin they were taking a patient to the hospital and asked to continue the dispute there.
The scuffle ensued at the side of the ambulance.
OHP spokesman West, in announcing the July suspension, said Martin had a right to stop the ambulance and had justification to arrest the paramedic for obstructing an officer but said that the situation could have been handled differently.
