Chief Of Police Letter – Re: Ride to Hospital

The Constable was on duty heading into Coffee Culture to pick up a coffee when he encountered a few people dealing with a person who was obviously in distress and had been vomiting. Someone in the group asked the Constable to drive the person to the hospital and he said that he would not do it in the cruiser but would call an ambulance. They declined the ambulance and transported the person to the hospital themselves where he was examined and released. He died sometime that night.

Police officers are taught not to transport people to hospitals unless it is a dire emergency and the ambulance is not available. This is for several reasons but most importantly because police are not trained medical aid and could be doing more harm than good transporting without the person being properly stabilized. That is why we have paramedics and why police offered to have them attend in this instance.

The officer conducted himself properly and offered the assistance of a ambulance which was declined.

I normally do not respond to Letters to the Editor as they are a forum for someone to vent and have their say.

Timothy W. Poole
Chief
Wingham Police Service

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