An Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper at the heart of a May 24 confrontation with a Creek Nation paramedic has been placed on administrative leave, authorities said Wednesday.
OHP Capt. Chris West said Trooper Daniel Martin was put on paid administrative leave June 1 while the patrol’s internal affairs investigation into the incident continues.
West emphasized that the leave is not punishment — the trooper is still being paid — but only routine while an investigation is conducted.
However, West was unable to explain why it took the patrol a week to put Martin on administrative leave. He continued working for a week after the confrontation, along U.S. 62 in Paden, seven miles east of Prague.
West said he didn’t know how long Martin would be on leave.
But he did say that a Tulsa World request under the state’s Open Records Act for the video from the trooper’s dashboard camera is being denied. West did not elaborate on the reason for the denial.
Okfuskee County District Attorney Max Cook said last week that the Highway Patrol should release the dashboard-camera video.
Cook said he would not charge either the trooper or the paramedic, Maurice White Jr., in connection with the confrontation.
“Although I do not condone their actions, I do not believe that filing charges at this time would serve the best interests of the public or the interests of justice,” he said last week.
The confrontation occurred as a Creek Nation ambulance was taking a woman to the hospital in Prague. The ambulance was not using
its emergency lights or siren.
Martin was en route along U.S. 62 to aid the Okfuskee County Sheriff’s Office with a stolen-vehicle call and was using his lights and siren, he said in his report.
He said the ambulance didn’t immediately pull over to let him pass. Eventually, the ambulance did let him pass.
Martin said he radioed the ambulance crew that they should be more vigilant.
White acknowledged receiving that transmission and said his driver, Paul Franks, threw up his hands in surprise at the call.
White said the trooper might have mistaken Franks’ response as an obscene finger gesture.
Martin claimed that as the ambulance passed by in Paden, Franks gave him the finger. Franks denies that.
Martin said he gave chase and pulled over the ambulance and approached Franks, telling him he would be cited for failure to yield and asking why he flipped him off.
White got between Franks and Martin, telling Martin that they were on their way to the hospital and that “we can continue this there.”
Martin said that despite repeated requests to White that he back off, the trooper said he tried to arrest White for obstructing an officer.
That’s when the scuffle broke out between the two, with Martin claiming that White grabbed him around the neck and White claiming Martin put him in a choke hold.
Eventually, the ambulance was allowed to go on its way. Martin was not arrested and Franks received a written warning for failure to yield.
Part of the scuffle was captured on a cell-phone camera at the scene by a witness.
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Information from the Tulsa World
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