An ambulance driver who was at the heart of a traffic stop that led to a scuffle between a state trooper and a paramedic believes the officer should be reassigned elsewhere.
Paul Franks said Trooper Daniel Martin should be reassigned to the Panhandle or to southeastern Oklahoma's Little Dixie.
Though Martin lives north of Okemah and patrols the Okfuskee County area, he works for the Oklahoma Highway Patrol's Troop D, which is based in McAlester, the reputed capital of "Little Dixie."
Troop D covers Okfuskee, Seminole, Hughes, Pittsburg, Latimer and LeFlore counties.
On Wednesday, the OHP announced it had suspended Martin for five days without pay for "conduct unbecoming an officer" in connection with a May 24 traffic stop of a Creek Nation ambulance, driven by Franks.
The suspension is in effect through next Tuesday.
Martin had stopped the ambulance at Paden after he thought Franks had made an obscene finger gesture, which the trooper felt was an "act of defiance."
Franks denied ever making such a gesture.
A few minutes earlier, on U.S. 62 east of Paden, Martin had encountered the ambulance, which was taking a woman from Boley to the hospital in Prague. The ambulance was not running with its emergency lights or siren.
Martin's cruiser, however, had its lights and siren on, and he was heading to an officer-needing-assistance call on a stolen-car report at Paden.
The ambulance didn't immediately yield to Martin's car, prompting a radio-to-radio warning from Martin that the ambulance crew should be more observant.
Once he was at Paden, Martin saw the ambulance pass by and decided to give chase after he thought the driver made the gesture.
As Martin approached Franks at the stop to discuss the earlier failure to yield and the supposed gesture, paramedic Maurice White Jr. came out of the ambulance.
White repeatedly told Martin that they were taking a woman to the hospital, and asked if they could continue the dispute there.
But Martin told White to back off, and then tried twice to arrest White for obstructing an officer. Those two arrest attempts led to two scuffles between the pair.
Much of the incident — which led to a national furor — was captured on cell-phone video by one of the patient's family members, who was following the ambulance.
The OHP also released the video from Martin's dashboard camera.
In its ruling on Martin, the OHP said Martin had probable cause to stop the ambulance for failure to yield, and he was justified in trying to arrest White.
However, the OHP said Martin should have allowed the ambulance to go to the hospital once he learned a patient was on board.
The patrol took aim, though, at Martin's demeanor and language in dealing with Franks, which it called "unprofessional and contrary to what is expected of an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper."
Reflecting on his encounter with Martin, Franks said Thursday, "I was basically shocked and surprised by the entire incident.
"I never saw anything like it in my life. I'm still amazed by what happened," said Franks, 48, who has been an emergency medical technician for a year.
Before becoming an EMT, Franks said, he operated a small convenience store in Okemah, and "I never had a bad dealing with an officer until then. Ever."
After the scuffles between Martin and White, the ambulance was allowed to continue to the hospital. White was never arrested; Franks was given a warning for failure to yield.
Franks said he should never have received the warning because the entire stop was built on the supposed gesture.
"A person can give the finger with both hands — not that I ever would. That's not illegal. It's free speech."
Franks was noncommittal on whether the OHP went far enough in disciplining Martin.
He said he just felt that in addition to the suspension, Martin should patrol some other area.
One thing he knows for certain, the entire controversy won't go away anytime soon.
Pointing out that White has already filed a lawsuit against Martin in federal court, Franks said the saga will drag on for some time.
"I'll probably be subpoenaed, past records will be called up, and things will get ugly," Franks said.
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YouTube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KluItc365hU
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