More video from Ohio confrontation between cop & ambulance crew member
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Previously: Caught on camera: Police & EMS confrontation at Ohio bar fight goes viral
There is additional video, above, showing what happened after a Portsmouth, Ohio police officer put his hand up to the neck of an ambulance crew member who appeared to be pushed up against a cruiser by the officer on Saturday. The dispute between the employee of Life Medical Response and the officer occurred during the aftermath of a bar fight.
Witnesses told WSAZ-TV reporter Andrew Colegrove the confrontation happened over treatment for one of the victims of the fight who had become agitated when he “came to.” According to Josh Journey, “The EMT said, ‘You can’t be tasing this guy, he’s bleeding, got head problems’. Then after that he grabbed the EMT, took him across the street, and I saw him have his hand on his throat all the way across the road and had him up against that cruiser.”
Previously, the only video available was 10 seconds that had been uploaded to Snapchat. Portsmouth Police Chief Robert Ware said in WSAZ-TV’s initial story that the video only shows part of what happened. A Life Medical Response official told the TV station the video had been heavily edited. It appears the new video above is a continuous roll for three minutes that begins with the ambulance crew member up against the cruiser. The video was uploaded to Facebook on Wednesday by Josh Phillips who was not on the scene of the incident. So far, we’ve seen no video that shows what occurred prior to the physical confrontation between the officers and the ambulance crew member.
One part of a new article (Daily Times, below) that is confusing is the praise by Chief Ware for the Postsmouth Daily Times. The chief thanks the paper for waiting until the review by police has been completed before reporting its story. But the Daily Times article clearly states that the investigation has not been completed, saying that it is “nearly complete.” Huh?
“The video that went viral, there are claims that the officer either choked the EMT or had his hand around his throat,” Ware said. “We have been conducting an internal review as we do with all ‘use of force’ incidents. We have seen the video that was on line and we have seen additional video footage. We expect to be done with the review later today (Wednesday).”
Ware said he appreciated the Daily Times waiting for the complete review of the case before reporting the story.
“I certainly appreciate that,” Ware said. “The portrayal that is out there and what we’re finding are different and that’s usually the case. People are so quick to jump on something and form an opinion without having a clear understanding of what took place.”
