When servants become the masters

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

mayor@mail.chattanooga.gov
(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