My client is not an Ogre. That statement from an attorney representing the Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper who clashed with a paramedic on a road in Okfuskee County.
Today, the attorney held a news conference in Oklahoma City defending his client Trooper Daniel Martin.
FOX23’s Abbie Alford was at the press conference, where Martin’s attorney says his the trooper did what he had to do.
According to Trooper Daniel Martin’s Attorney, Gary James, the now infamous encounter started because paramedic Maurice White resisted arrest.
“He has assaulted a trooper. He has fought him by his own statements. He has obstructed justice and he has resisted arrest. At that point in time the trooper justified in whatever force by statute is necessary to take him into custody," says James.
The attorney includes Martin holding the paramedic by the neck. James went on to say the ambulance crew did not pull over when they saw the trooper’s light and sirens and then gave him the bird.
“That initial incident Trooper Martin would have let that rode, he felt they did it [not yield] but when he got the finger he felt it was an intentional action at that point in time,” says James.
However, there isn’t a state that says it’s illegal to flip off law enforecement and I asked if giving the finger is enough reason to pull over the ambulance.
“I think at that point time. Because at the point in time he’s learned the intent of the driver, it was an intentional not pulling over,” says James.
The paramedic’s attorney, Richard O’Carroll says an obscene hand gesture—even if it did happen—isn’t probably cause to pull over an ambulance.
“He can pull over anybody any time he wants, he has that power. But once he declares this is about his hurt feelings, then he's lost all authority and all power,” says O’Carroll.
