Weddings are supposed to be the happiest time in a persons life. Not so for Eric and Aline Wright of Chattanooga, TN. On Wednesday June, 16 the happy couple was celebrating their honeymoon when Aline began having a stroke and was rushed to the hospital by her new husband.
Along the way Eric came up on 2 red lights and ran both of them, as most of us would do in that situation. In steps the so called “public servant” to protect and serve the people of Chattanooga that he works for. When going through the 2nd red light Officer Jim Daves turned on his sirens and followed Eric, who refused to pull over.
Eric is a trained medic who served two tours in Iraq, his wife Aline is also in the medical profession and both work at a local hospital. Eric felt glad when he saw the officer pull up behind him and was not interested in wasting the time to pull over and explain the situation as his new wife’s life was relying on getting to the hospital as quickly as possible. Our tyrant in blue had other ideas.
Eric figured he would just explain everything to the officer after arriving at the hospital and all would be ok. Talking to AOL News he said,
“As long as my wife gets into the hospital and gets taken care of then we can talk about things like red lights.”
While carrying his wife Aline, a left leg amputee and a cancer survivor with a heart condition, Officer Daves blocked his entrance into the ER according to Eric.
“I remember having to stop. I was trying to explain the situation, but he didn’t really stop to listen to it. He never asked what her condition was,” said Eric. “I remember having to step around him to get into the ER.”
According to Officer Daves, Eric pulled in to the ER entrance and jumped out and ran. He made contact with Eric and grabbed his arm. Eric then pushed him away, scraping his arm with his finger nail and screaming “It’s an emergency!” He then pushed through the crowd and placed Aline in a hospital room without staff permission. (Maybe someone can contact Sam Dodson of The CRAP campaign to help this officer.)
These claims are denied by Eric, saying he phoned the ER ahead of time and refused to leave the room when ordered by Officer Daves stating his wife could not relay important information about her condition to doctors. According to the Wrights, our hero in blue prevented Aline from reaching vital medical treatment. But he didn’t stop there and apologize. No, he told Eric he would be charged with a felony and needed to turn himself in.
Eric went to the Hamilton County jail on Thursday June 17th, the following day, and was told there was no warrant out for his arrest. Story over right? Eric and Aline can focus on recovering from the whole ordeal and getting Aline well. After all Eric complied with the badged tyrants demands so it must be over surely. Wrong. It continues.
On Friday June, 18 Eric was suddenly awakened from sleep and kidnapped by a local gang calling themselves the Chattanooga Police Department. His wife Aline told WRCB that according to a Chattanooga police blotter Eric arrested and charged with assault on police, disorderly conduct, reckless endangerment, a felony count of evading arrest and other traffic violations. After all, the police are here to help you and they’re our servants right? But when you feel safe by their presence, they can show how they are truly our masters if you disobey them, even in an emergency when someones life is on the line.
Of course the badged hero will be punished right? According to a Chattanooga police spokesbureaucrat there was a supervisory complaint against Daves. His supervisor looked into the incident and unsurprisingly said,
“No policy violations, rules or procedures or laws were broken.”
The thin blue line closes in and protects their own yet again.
Eric is out on $7,500 bail and scheduled to appear in court on July 9. Further damage, Eric has been suspended from his hospital job because of the felony charge, even though he has not been convicted.
You can contact the Chattanooga Mayor, and Hamilton County Sheriff and District Attorney General and request information about this case at the information below.
The Honorable Ron Littlefield Mayor of Chattanooga
101 East 11th St. Suite 100
Chattanooga, TN 37402
[email protected]
(423) 757 – 5152
Hamilton County, TN Sheriff Jim Hammond
(423) 209 – 7000
Fax (423) 209 – 7001
Hamilton County District Attorney General
600 Market St. Suite 300
Chattanooga, TN 37402
(423) 209 – 7400
This story makes me want to weep for humanity. Senseless, illogical, blind love for the law regardless of consequences, of people’s lives and safety at stake – it’s completely mind boggling.
I’m sorry, but in this case, Eric did the wrong thing. He should have called an ambulance, and let the ambulance driver run the lights. Not that this excuses the cop for his attitude and actions, but Eric did put other people in danger.
Brodie -
He did what he needed to do to save a life. The police were the people who put people in danger. Did Eric hit anyone by running the red lights? Did he kill anyone? Did he stop anyone from getting medical attention? Red lights aren’t to be obeyed merely for the sake of being obeyed. They are there to prevent reckless drivers. He wasn’t being reckless. He paused at the red lights to make sure no one was coming, and indeed, no one was coming, he didn’t hit anyone, and did not “endanger” anyone by running through a red light where there was no traffic. The reason ambulances are allowed to run red lights is because the safety of a human being trumps the need to obey a red light. This was no different in Eric’s situation. Under your logic, even if it was 3am, and there was no car in sight on the street, and his wife was dying, Eric should have stopped at every stop sign and every red light, and drove at 25 mph through the residential areas, and put his wife’s life behind the theoretical, completely nonexistent risk of a car accident.
You are making an illogical distinction between people with titles and those without. Saving a life is saving a life. It would be one thing if Eric had, in fact run red lights and killed people on his way to the hospital, but he did not. You’re essentially saying that if you don’t have the right costume/badge/vehicle with sirens, you have no right to save a life. This is nonsense.
So if I see a kid drowning in a river, and I could save him, I should refrain, because that’s the duty of a lifeguard, with a fancy whistle and red swim suit? I should sit there and wait until a lifeguard or proper personnel gets there, even though I am capable of saving the child with no harm done to anyone else? What kind of logic is this?
Police were wrong to hinder anyone running to the ER. People like you and the police are those who put people’s lives in danger constantly, by demanding arbitrary adherence to rules just for the sake of adhering to rules, and by punishing people who do the right thing out of compassion, goodness and integrity.
People like you, and the police, have lost sight of what the rules were there to begin with. Police are supposed to be there to save lives. Instead, here they are hindering medical attention to a woman with a stroke. This is completely disgusting and unacceptable. It horrifies me that you actually think someone (and Eric in this case was a medic himself) should stop at red lights or wait for an ambulance when their wife is dying.
If the fear is that other people’s lives were endangered, you must ask yourself, who were these theoretical people? And where they actually endangered? Indeed, your fears of “endangering” other people are completely hypothetical, and you seek to punish this man for theoretical crimes when his actual actions saved a life. I have no problem punishing someone once they actually have harmed someone. Who did Eric harm in this instance? Except a bunch of non existent people who weren’t there when he ran the red lights?
Again, this goes back to the blind, illogical love for rules just for the sake of having rules. It matters not who you saved or what was right. The only consideration people like you have is for whether the rule was obeyed.
Brodie- so he’s supposed to sit there and wait for an ambulance while his wife dies? No, he did the right thing. Sounds like he even slowed down at the red lights. Running red lights can be done safely. Look both ways and go. Its not something only a “trained professional” can do.
The cop should’ve realized what was going on, then said, sorry sir and left. Instead he looks like a wimp “I got scratched by a nail! OOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW.”
This is not the first time this has happened. A NFL player in Texas was on his way to see his dying mother and was prevented from seeing her.
The problem his is that cops don’t have common sense. Instead of worrying about CONTEXT, its all about a silly little law and bowing down to the man. Its sick.
Never wait for an ambulance unless there is spinal cord damage. People die during the wait. I broke my jay and arm in an ATV accident and if my mother had not driven me to the hospital at a 100 mph down the interstate in 12 minutes. I would not be writing this message today. Spinal cord only for ambulances! Go go go! TAKE CHARGE!
The ER doctor verified that the wait for the ambulance would have led to irreparable damage, possibly death. This medic recognized that and did what was needed. Many states recognize what he did as a special circumstance where the police are to aid, not impede. He was careful through out his run to the hospital.
Jenn is correct.
I haven’t looked it up, does anyone know the average response time of a 911 call to an ambulance?
I’m willing to bet his wife would have gotten to the ER much later than she did if they waited on an ambulance. This cop is just on a power trip and like usual he is backed up by the “Thin Blue Line”
Waiting for an ambulance can take a long time, but stopping at red lights doesn’t. Even so, he could have pulled over, told the cop what he was doing, asked for an escort, and if the cop refused, then drive off. Would have been my move. I agree the cop is mindless, but this Eric guy wasn’t thinking clearly, and could have killed someone. But I’m a fan of “just culture”, that one’s actions, and not their consequences, should be deterred through punishment. Granted the punishment for running a light and speeding should be fines and maybe temporary loss of license. If Eric is willing to break traffic laws to save his wife, he should be willing to pay the fines.
Dave,
He was willing to take the fines, but not the trumped up charges from the Officer whose ego was hurt. Thoreau wrote about the injustice of the letter of the law when the spirit of the law was ignored. Again, most states allow for this special circumstance, and the Officer had discretion on the charges also. He chose not to use that discretion, and given the circumstance, only the evil of ego seems to fit. Physical courage is not synonymous with moral courage, the ego interferes.
Yesterday my son and I watched a cop run a red light without lights or siren. By the laws of my state the cop was guilty of running a red light. Oddly, he didn’t pull over and give himself a ticket. It’s the double standard of authoritarianism that bothers most of us, as well as the self-serving ego that lacks moral courage.
Dave – do you live in the boonies or something? Do you know what red lights do? I have had my drive double in time from being stopped at red lights. You ever have a stroke? Are you aware that very short periods of time can make a big difference with strokes? Stop questioning the person who saved the life. Question the person who was impeding the lifesaver.
Again, who did Eric endanger by speeding through red lights when there was NO ONE THERE? He paused at each light to make sure no one was coming. He didn’t actually HURT ANYONE. Are you seriously sitting here worrying about theoretical, non existent people who were not at that intersection? Really? You think he deserves to be charged for 5 felonies or whatever ridiculousness they charged with him because he endangered non existent people?! Do you live in fantasy land or something?
Next, you’ll be arguing we should throw people in jail because they punched the air or kicked into the air and there COULD have been a person there, and they “could have killed” other people. It should be illegal to swing a bat in the air, or shoot at targets at the shooting range there too, because people could have been there! He could have killed someone! All these imaginary non-existent victims are way more important than actual living person, of course!
I really don’t understand this double standard. Society regularly cuts the cops a real break when they accidentally shoot people, taser the wrong guy, kick down the wrong door and shoot a kid, bust through red lights to bust a speeder, but apparently this poor Eric guy is seen as this reckless, horrible human being because he sped through some lights (while hurting NO ONE) to safe his wife’s life. All because he didn’t have a gun and a badge. It’s unbelievable.
Brodie, if that was your significant other who was in danger of losing his/her life, would you wait for an ambulance? I think not. Take charge and stop pushing a zero tolerance mindset. Common Sense is more than just a pamphlet.
In 1993, my mom suffered a gallstone. At the time she was just in cringing pain and we didn’t know if she was having a heart attack or what. So I raced her to the ER with the car’s hazzard lights flashing. I did stop for red lights, but at one near the hospital a cop car pulled beside me. I told him my mom was apparently having a heart attack and we were headed to the ER. He said he would follow and meet us there, but I never saw him again.
A year or so ago my 3rd grade son had a seizure that paralyzed him temporarily and unconscious. I called 911 for an ambulance to come and take him to the ER. My wife rode in the ambulance. I sped to the ER in our car, but didn’t run any traffic lights, thinking I’d arrive after them. When I arrived at the ER the nurse/receptionist/triage didn’t know anything about my son or his situation, but she suspected that maybe the ambulance hadn’t arrived yet. A moment later we heard the ambulance radio in that they were enroute and about to arrive. So driving a car to an ER was faster, in that instance, than an ambulance. The advantage of an ambulance is the emergency medical aid and service from home to the hospital, which neither my wife nor I could provide. After like 4 or 6 hours our son woke up and was gradually able to talk and walk, and soon fully recovered.
The tyrant cop was doing what he is paid to do. You see, cops have no duty to protect, therefore their job is the opposite of protecting. It is just the way it is in occupied America. http://www.google.com/search?q=Police+have+no+duty+to+protect&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1&rlz=1I7GPEA_enUS289
I run red lights all the time. If no one is coming, I treat them like stop signs. I am a free man, and do not let myself be ruled by electronic gadgets. Americans need to break the spell of the Prussian Education they are under.
Well he may not have put anyone in danger, but again, he should have called an ambulance and let them run the red lights instead.
Brodie – why? If he did not put anyone in danger, and he did not in fact hurt anyone, why should he have called an ambulance? You have not addressed the issue we have raised of the idiocy of adhering to rules just for the sake of adhering to rules. Again, you are insisting that he delay the treatment of his wife just so he can abide by the rules – which you yourself admit, were not really even necessary rules, since he hurt and endangered no one by breaking them.
“common sense is more than just a pamphlet.” — I love it, Brock.
Follow-Up, all charges dropped because the necessity negated any criminal intent. Officer on administrative leave pending internal investigation.
http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/charges-dropped-against-eric-wright-tenn-man-arrested-after-rushing-wife-aline-wright-to-hospital/19526732
Why? Because an ambulance is equipped to handle the emergency. And yes, I would wait for an ambulance.
Brodie is nuts.
Eric Wright IS AN EMERGENCY MEDICAL TECHNICIAN. What an asinine suggestion that he should wait for a damn ambulance. Methinks Brodie is-a-trollin’.
Thankfully this kind of scenario is not common. I had a similar experience many years ago. A friend of mine had fallen off of his roof while cleaning his chimney. He had an opened fracture to his arm , a large gash on his head, and was struggling to stay conscience due to a concussion. Bleeding profusely I got him into my pick-up and took off like a bat out of hell to the E.R. Luckily it was not too far from his home. About 4 blocks from the hospital, I heard the siren behind me. Sure enough, a motorcycle cop. I ignored it and continued to the E.R. After arriving, I ran into the hospital to get help for my buddy. The Officer was right behind me. After I got some people to go out to my truck and get my buddy, The Officer saw the condition of my friend. After about 20 minutes of listening to why “what I did was dangerous” and of course a few appologies, The Officers departed. About 6 of them at that point. I did not recieve any citations, nor was I arrested. It was a stressful time for me, my friend and the Officer. Until I ran into the E.R. and asked for help, the Officer did not know if I was running because I just robbed a bank, or shot someone. It’s all about keeping your head. I treated them with respect. I did not ignore them or become indignant after at any time, and my friend was being cared for. I was appoligetic, because I did in fact did break the law. Yes, I would do it again. My friend lived and recovered completely. Although he did need a blood transfusion. If we would have waited for paramedics to arrive and stabilize him, he probably would have blead out before making it to the hospital. The difference was about 5 minutes.
How did this devolve into be a debate on traffic signals? I’ve been to numerous countries. Countries that use traffic signaling devises as a suggestion, not a rule. They are extremely dangerous. Accidents are common. Unneccssary injuries and deaths are common. I’ll take our method anytime. To think any other way is self centered and arrogant and wreckless. The fact that some Police Officers don’t have understanding for a circumstance is not a suprise. Police Officers are recruited from our own society. They are us! Treat them with respect, and they will, most of the time, treat you with respect. A small percentage of arrogant hard asses, guys should not taint the whole lot.
Good to hear the charges were dropped.
One thing I just thought of, is that if you see the cops, put your emergency blinkers on and wave. That way at least he knows you see him but aren’t willing to stop. Calling 911 may also be a good idea to relay to the cop. Just some helpful hints.
Right, the real issue is the lying cop and the home-invasion arrest and the $7500 ransom.
That being said, is there a commonly known hand signal that could be used in such a circumstance, so that a police car can be part of the solution rather than the problem (impeding an emergency response which is the natural right of all people not just cops and EMTs.), similiar to the right-turn, left-turn hand signals?
Police officers are only due respect when they deserve it. When they are hindering a person on the way to the hospital, they are owed ZERO respect, ZERO explanation. You have a RIGHT to go to the hospital without being harassed by police, without having to explain yourself and without being impeded. If police want to ensure you did not rob a bank, they can wait outside the ER for you.
I too have been to various countries where traffic signals are a suggestion. And actually, I find the reverse to be true, Shawn. Although the driving was hectic and disorganized, I saw fewer accidents, and no fatal accidents in the months I was abroad. People are not retarded. They don’t just crash into people randomly. It is not only traffic signals that stop people from crashing into each other; people are not that stupid. Self-interest and a desire to remain alive serve pretty well to keep people safe on the roads.
In fact, studies are now showing our traffic laws are contributing to car accidents and deaths. Speed bumps kill a few people each year because ambulances can’t get to people on time. The shortening of yellow lights so that it is easier to ticket people in addition has also caused traffic accidents. The flashing of red light cameras, too has caused dangerous distractions to drivers. This is exactly why breaking traffic laws is a malum prohibitum, not a malum in se. They are not a direct correlate to safety. In fact, they often make driving more dangerous. So this blind adherence to these damn laws is just absurd and stupid.
Good article with this story in it, and with more like it. http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/2010/06/police-states-cardinal-rule-mundane.html
We don’t hire the cream of the crop in most towns in America. some of chattanooga’s officers are awesome. I know many of them and I have great respect for just about anyone in blue. Sadly our city officials do not select officers based on their higher education or aptitude, as much as they might like to. My impression is that federal judges have give instructions to the city of chattanooga and many other cities that effect who gets to carry a gun and serve.
Being a policeman is not an easy job and it takes a special person to do it well. This case is sad. I hope it’s unusual because it doesnt paint a good image of the good cops out there. I fear it might be accurate but not favorable.
I do think he should have waited. His training isn’t enough to compensate for a van full of equipment. I say that without knowing how close the hospital was. When my dad died it took 10 minutes for them to arrive and they didn’t seem to take the call with urgency even when I told the, repeatedly my dad was not breathing.