VIDEO: CHP Officer Handcuffs Firefighter at Crash Scene
After a California Highway Patrol officer handcuffed a Chula Vista firefighter for refusing to move his engine at the scene of a crash, the chiefs of both agencies said in a statement Wednesday that they shared the "utmost respect" for each other's missions, reports the L.A. Times.
The incident occurred at the scene of a rollover crash Tuesday night. The CHP officer had ordered the firefighter to move a fire truck because he felt it was unsafely blocking a lane of traffic at the scene of a collision on Interstate 805.
The fire truck had arrived at the scene of the accident before the CHP. The driver, a 12-year veteran of the Fire Department, was parked behind an ambulance that was loading patients for transport to a hospital.
When the firefighter refused to immediately move the truck, saying he needed to confer with his captain, the CHP officer handcuffed the firefighter and put him in the back of a patrol car, where he remained for about 30 minutes. No arrest was made.