Was this "emergency" really necessary? One woman dead...

[rrocket]

Yesterday, there was a terrible accident in which a police cruiser t-boned as car as it was en route to a "medical emergency".  A woman in the car was killed.  The two police officer's walked away.  As is sometimes the case when police are driving quickly, they "outrun the siren".  That is to say they are traveling so quickly, and because of weather conditions, environmental noise, etc people sometimes don't hear/see the rapidly approaching police cars.  This I understand.

Then the word comes out that the "medical emergency" they were en route to was for a police officer who had a heart attack.  But at the time, he was NOT on duty, and not doing anything in the line of duty.  He was actually playing a pick-up game of basketball and suffered a heart attack while playing.  The police were en route to stop traffic at intersections so the ambulance could get through more quickly (supposedly). I was a little annoyed to hear of this.  Does this really constitute a "medical emergency" that required police cars to respond putting the life of others in peril?  Make no mistake...when police drive through the city, lights and sirens blaring and run through intersections (yes, I know it's legal to do) it creates a potentially dangerous situation.  In this case, a woman died because of it.  Worse, the heart attack victim wasn't didn't fall ill in the line of duty.  Most sickening is regular folks like you and I would NOT have police dropping everything to run around and block intersections should we fall ill.

I think this death could have been prevented.  There was no need for the police to take the actions they did.  I understand it was one of their own...but this was an off duty incident, and as such it should have been treated that way.

[vdk]

I've seen police cars clear intersections for ambulances in Toronto. If a cop is stopped at a red light and there's an ambulance coming towards him, it's only natural to light up the christmas tree and stop traffic.

That being said, I've NEVER EVER seen an emergency vehicle blast through intersections - they almost stop before going through.

[rrocket]

I've seen police cars clear intersections for ambulances in Toronto. If a cop is stopped at a red light and there's an ambulance coming towards him, it's only natural to light up the christmas tree and stop traffic.

That being said, I've NEVER EVER seen an emergency vehicle blast through intersections - they almost stop before going through.

This car wasn't already at an intersection....it was en route to some intersection to intercept the ambulance so that it could block traffic ahead of it. Maybe this happens more frequently in TO were traffic is truly horrific.  That's not really the case in Windsor...

[vdk]

Yeah I know. I fail to understand though why they didn't at least slow down before going through the intersection. Makes no sense.

[rrocket]

Yeah I know. I fail to understand though why they didn't at least slow down before going through the intersection. Makes no sense.

Maybe they did.....I mean..I'm sure it wasn't reckless...I just don't understand why such drastic emergency procedures needed to be taken for an officer who was off duty at the time.

Oh yea...the officer with the heart attack died too.

[rzramon]

         Well, we cannot blame anybody, it was an accident of 2 accidents. But i have seen that in emergency such things do emerge. The government must make provision for it, because normal people cannot do anything apart from watching out the scene.

Regards,
Razor

[airbalancer]

The police were en route to stop traffic at intersections so the ambulance could get through more quickly (supposedly). I was a little annoyed to hear of this.  Does this really constitute a "medical emergency" that required police cars to respond putting the life of others in peril?

It depends if the person who has in the ambulance is someone you love

When they rush my granddaughter from Cobourg to Peterborough, about 50 km run they had a police escort most of the way
Was it necessary, I do not know. But they had to stop twice to get her get her breathing. So she really need to get there. I could not understand why she was not transport to   Sick Kids in Toronto, because she was flown there a couple of hours later
I guess the ambulance driver would make the call to get the police escort, would the police even know who the patient was

[quadzilla]

Did this happen as the police went through an intersection without slowing/stopping to ensure the way was clear? If so I thought they HAD to slow/stop before proceeding through intersections.

[The Mighty Duck]

rrocket, your disdain for the police is well known. And frankly, this sounds a lot more like you looking for an excuse to attack them yet again than anything else. The police were responding to an emergency, and sadly, that led to another accident. But there is absolutely nothing here to suggest that what they did was out of line or beyond the norm. Given that the heart attack victim died, it was obviously a serious emergency, and it sounds like the police were in the right by trying to help. If someone I loved were in such dire straights, I would hope and pray that the police did the same thing.

[Shnak]

I don't have a problem with cops rushing to a man hit by a heart attack, regardless if the man is an off-duty cop or not... I do have a problem with cops speeding thru intersections without first making sure they can go thru it without danger...

In this particular situation, do we know for sure that the cop is at fault for killing the woman? Is it possible that the lady sped through a red light?

[Sival]

rrocket, why do you insinuate that a medical emergency is less of an emergency just because the victim was an off-duty cop as opposed to an on-duty cop? Is his life any less in danger or worthy of being saved when off-duty?

[vdk]

Oh people take a deep breath now...

The cops should've stopped before going thru the intersection. It doesn't matter if the lady ran the light, they would've seen her. Chances are they didn't stop. Big mistake.

[KBA]

I'm losing more and more respect for police. 
They're on power trips, nothing more, bunch of jerks.

[rrocket]

rrocket, your disdain for the police is well known. And frankly, this sounds a lot more like you looking for an excuse to attack them yet again than anything else. The police were responding to an emergency, and sadly, that led to another accident. But there is absolutely nothing here to suggest that what they did was out of line or beyond the norm. Given that the heart attack victim died, it was obviously a serious emergency, and it sounds like the police were in the right by trying to help. If someone I loved were in such dire straights, I would hope and pray that the police did the same thing.

This is absolutely out of the norm.  You'll recall Import Queen is a visiting nurse.  Unfortunately, she often arrives at residences to find the patient unresponsive or in dire need of emergency medical attention (and sometimes dead..yuck!).  I asked her how many times the ambulance in these cases have had a police escort.  Her answer?  "Never".

So yea, it's out of the norm.  I would agree 100% if the police did this for all those in dire need of emergency medical care.  But this isn't the case.  And keep in mind...this isn't a HUGE metropolitan area like Toronto where the traffic is horrendous. 

And my disdain isn't for the police.  I have friends who are police.  My disdain is for the seemingly "make up the rules as we go" police attitude that is rather prevalent here.

[dr_spock]

Last weekend I had a close head-on type encounter with an ambulance on an emergency run.  Traffic was bunched up on the other side of the road so he/she whipped over and drove down the wrong way towards little old me.   I did a WTF and pulled over to the right immediately.   I should send them my underwear cleaning bill. 

[quadzilla]

Last weekend I had a close head-on type encounter with an ambulance on an emergency run.  Traffic was bunched up on the other side of the road so he/she whipped over and drove down the wrong way towards little old me.   I did a WTF and pulled over to the right immediately.   I should send them my underwear cleaning bill. 

Why didn't you pull over when you saw the ambulance to begin with?

[The Mighty Duck]

This is absolutely out of the norm.  You'll recall Import Queen is a visiting nurse.  Unfortunately, she often arrives at residences to find the patient unresponsive or in dire need of emergency medical attention (and sometimes dead..yuck!).  I asked her how many times the ambulance in these cases have had a police escort.  Her answer?  "Never".

The observations of one person are statistically irrelevent. I've heard of ambulances receiving police escorts - apparently others have as well. It might not be the most common thing in the world, but it does happen.

Last weekend I had a close head-on type encounter with an ambulance on an emergency run.  Traffic was bunched up on the other side of the road so he/she whipped over and drove down the wrong way towards little old me.   I did a WTF and pulled over to the right immediately.   I should send them my underwear cleaning bill. 

Why didn't you pull over when you saw the ambulance to begin with?

  No kidding. Anytime you see an emergency vehicle around you you're supposed to pull over (unless their in front of you heading the same direction, I guess).

[Turbo Bob]

Last weekend I had a close head-on type encounter with an ambulance on an emergency run.  Traffic was bunched up on the other side of the road so he/she whipped over and drove down the wrong way towards little old me.   I did a WTF and pulled over to the right immediately.   I should send them my underwear cleaning bill. 

Why didn't you pull over when you saw the ambulance to begin with?

Have to agree with Quad on this one, I'm amazed at how people in Canada continue to drive normally when emergency vehicles are around, I pulled over slightly when I saw an ambulance coming and people started passing me!

[rrocket]

The observations of one person are statistically irrelevent. I've heard of ambulances receiving police escorts - apparently others have as well. It might not be the most common thing in the world, but it does happen.

Maybe there..but it's exceedingly rare here.  I can go on and on about instances where there was a near fatal motorcycle/car accident with no police escorts.  I think it might make more sense in larger metropolitan areas where the traffic is so bad that a police escort is absolutely required to get through the gridlock. Like when I was there last week, during lunch.  Would be near impossible for any emergency vehicle to get through.  But we don't have that problem here (thankfully!).

[dr_spock]

Last weekend I had a close head-on type encounter with an ambulance on an emergency run.  Traffic was bunched up on the other side of the road so he/she whipped over and drove down the wrong way towards little old me.   I did a WTF and pulled over to the right immediately.   I should send them my underwear cleaning bill. 

Why didn't you pull over when you saw the ambulance to begin with?

Because I wasn't a sharp cookie that Saturday morning.  It didn't click until I saw it coming at me.