This is weird:
A Tucson firefighter refused to respond to the Jan. 8 shooting rampage that wounded Representative Gabrielle Giffords because of political differences with his crew, delaying his unit’s arrival at the scene, according to internal department records.
Firefighter Mark Ekstrum’s unit was not a first responder and was called after the last of the 13 wounded gunshot victims had been transported from the scene by paramedics, fire officials told The Arizona Daily Star, which obtained the memorandums. Still, Firefighter Ekstrum’s refusal to respond because of what he called “political bantering” caused confusion as the department dealt with the shooting, which left six dead, officials said.
Firefighter Ekstrum, a 28-year veteran, retired after the rampage as department officials considered disciplinary action. A memorandum from a supervisor, Capt. Ben Williams, said that Firefighter Ekstrum “mentioned something about ‘political bantering’ and he did not want to be part of it.” Exactly what the disagreement was over remained unclear. In a statement, Mr. Ekstrum later said he had voted for Ms. Giffords, a Democrat, and did not respond because he was distraught over the shootings.
Makes you wonder how many times someone has died because the paramedics were having a bad day.
cathyx
This would be incredible if it is indeed true. I find it hard to believe that he is a democrat though. It makes no sense to the story if he is.
mistermix a.k.a. mastermix
Here are some more details:
http://azstarnet.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_68abdf02-1d37-5e14-9974-6eeff8a22210.html
MattF
The solution is to privatize emergency services– that way libruls and wingers can each have their own compatible firepeople and there won’t be any arguing. Sigh.
cathyx
@mistermix a.k.a. mastermix: After reading your link, it makes even less sense.
Villago Delenda Est
That such an issue even came up amongst individuals who are supposed to be professionals is shocking, in and of itself.
You should not give so much as the slightest rat’s ass about politics, religion, race, Star Wars vs. Star Trek, preferences in ice cream flavors, or any other factor if you’re a first responder in a first response situation.
Period.
MattR
The last line of the NYTimes article seems to reinforce Ekstrum’s claims about being distraught.
(EDIT: If anything, the “political bantering” comment kinda sounds like he did not want to have to deal with any right wing assholes who might make a snide comment)
mistermix a.k.a. mastermix
@cathyx: Yep
@Villago Delenda Est: Yeah, that’s how it should be, but sometimes professionals fail. To his credit, he retired.
Culture of Truth
I’m surprised Howie Kurtz didn’t criticize the original responders for taking sides in a political shooting.
Villago Delenda Est
Perhaps the guy was so emotionally distraught that Giffords was a victim that he just couldn’t cope with the situation?
It’s so hard to say from the information that we have available to understand what this is all about, which of course is what prompted John’s comment in the first place.
Well, in the words of the immoral Peggy Noonan, it would be irresponsible not to speculate!
shortstop
@MattF: Awesome.
Poopyman
After 28 years service I doubt there are many first responders who don’t have “issues” (i.e. cumulative PTSD). Mighta been the last straw for him. But at least he saw that it was best to give it up. Hope he gets help.
And as @Villago Delenda Est: says, it would be irresponsible not to speculate.
geg6
@MattR:
I’m down with this theory. My guess is his whole team is a bunch of crazy ass Teabaggin’ Arpaio fans who were saying shit about how the libtard bitch deserved it or something.
Amanda in the South Bay
Several years ago, a trans woman in I think Washington DC was refused treatment after she got hit by a car, and the paramedics discovered she was trans, and died because of that. Google Tyra Hunter.
Culture of Truth
This part is curious. It’s Arizona, so he’s either way, way right, or more likely, left-of-center.
Jennifer
Odd that this post pops up now, when just a little while ago I was thinking about the Wisconsin situation while in the shower, and wondering if folks in Wisconsin might be a little hesistant to have Walker signs in their yards or Walker bumperstickers on their cars, in case God forbid something should happen. You really don’t want the firefighters or EMTs showing up on the scene only to realize that you consider them to be overpaid leeches on society.
Mattminus
Are we reading “political” too closely? I know at my job we call it a “political” situation when there’s territorial pissing between the systems and network teams.
Just looking for a non-insane way to read this…
Culture of Truth
This team was called to scene an hour and half after the shooting, by which time, I believe, stories were circulating that Giffords had died. If some firefighters were “bantering” about that, for example, it may have pissed him off but he may not want to get them in trouble for it now.
batgirl
@geg6: Yes, that would make sense with this paragraph from the article in USA Today:
Otto Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
A little off the topic here, but it does have to do with Giffords. So this guy Stuart Rothenberg is peeved that people are talking about Giffords running for the open Senate seat in Arizona. It seems that his son had a bad brain injury, and because he couldn’t talk sensibly when he came to after all the operations, Rothenberg is pissed off that people think Giffords is going to be up for such a race. I really don’t understand what his point in writing this is. Seems like the kind of thing Richard Cohen would have written, though I guess Cohen would have worked in how funny he was, and that Giffords was a bully, since people were saying mean things about Sarah Palin.
Freemark
It sounds like the rest of the squad was possibly tea-partiers. And maybe they were saying how they may need to finish the job, or how happy they were someone finally did what needed to be done. And maybe he didn’t want them to respond because of that. I have almost no reason to think that but I don’t want to be irresponsible and not speculate.
slag
I can’t believe that link goes to the NYT. So this is a somewhat true story, then?
Weird doesn’t even begin to cover it. Incredible. And truly bizarre.
rb
@Freemark: Yes, I think that is the most consistent reading between the lines. These guys spend a lot of time together and perhaps the atmosphere of violence had been the subject of prior arguments. If guys were joking about the shooting you can see this quite easily pushing someone over the edge, especially a longtime vet who’s watching things degrade over time.
piratedan
My take from the AZ Star write up is that he actually felt a connection to Giffords since he had spoken to her in the past and as such, couldn’t “deal” with the dark side of things as they naturally occur during these situations. After working in EMS for a while, those guys use dark humor to deflect and deal with the emotional detatchment that is necessary to do the job. I read it as Ekstrum not being in the right mindset to be able to handle that. Obviously that didn’t translate well at the time of the incident and was only expressed properly when there was time to do so…
or perhaps its a massive case of ass covering, ymmv.
I can attest that Ms. Giffords does indeed have a great amount of personal charm and her ability to focus on each question and the attention she gives each person that she meets and deal with them in a personal matter is one of her best attributes and as such, why she has a fairly devoted following here. In other news, they caught her (Congresswoman Giffords) singing the lyrics to McLean’s American Pie in the rehab center yesterday, so she’s speaking and remembering. I am constantly amazed by how much she has recovered thus far.
Stephen1947
I think that EMT culture tolerates too much ‘blame the victim’ and other sorts of prejudice against people in need. I’m not saying that they are all equal-opportunity offenders, but take a look at the comments on this post by a paraplegic who ran into a little trouble in a heat wave here in Boston last summer.
I’m the editor of this n’hood newspaper/blog, and can testify that I’ve had to remove two comments from EMT types (I can tell from their IP addresses) of the vile ‘imagining how they might torture the victim if he fell into their hands’ sort you’d expect from RedState or a Breitbart site. Some EMT website linked to this post a few months ago, and that’s when the fun began.
Jay C
Well, just to add my own contribution of irresponsible speculation to the discussion, it does seem that Mr. Ekstrum’s actions were based on personal, as opposed to ideological/”political” issues: and with his fellow firefighters, rather than Gabrielle Giffords. And it may be as suggested in #s 21 and 23.
Still, this is shocking, and more than a little weird: not least because it is disturbing to think that a fire company might be delayed in responding to a call (ninety minutes? A damn good thing they weren’t ‘first responders”!) while the captain has to argue with one of his team – whether about politics or not) – to get him to go out? A good thing Mr. Ekstrum has retired.
ThresherK
@MattF: “Would you like to confirm this emergency call with a credit card?”
MattR
@Jay C: I don’t think they were delayed for ninety minutes. I think the call from dispatch requesting their services was made ninety minutes after the shooting.
Tsulagi
If that guy hadn’t retired he should have been canned.
Actually I’d think the numbers would be far greater due to public misuse of the system. At a party talked with a coworker’s 20-something FD EMT son about his job. He said 90+% of their calls there was no reason for EMT service. Some call 911 essentially thinking they’ll get free,fast home delivery of full ER service.
He had some real stories about John Q public. One guy called because he shut a car door on his hand. Hand wasn’t broken or even cut. Guy went into a frothing rage because they wouldn’t give him some pain pills or at least prescribe some which they can’t do. Rage complete with some racial epithets directed at his partner. Asswipe even followed them back to their station demanding to fill out a complaint.
EMT son was bothered because he knew some don’t get the response time they needed because at times his and nearby stations were responding to junk calls. But he said that’s never affected their response because each call could be one of the small minority he’s been on where quick critical care and fast transport to a hospital could have made the difference. He’s a good guy.
thevole
I think it’s a very important detail that this guy’s unit was not dispatched to deal with the immediate emergency. They were sent AFTER THE FACT to give support and assist victims whose lives were not in danger. So John, you’re question wondering about how many people have died because paramedics wouldn’t or couldn’t show up is irrelevant here.
I know several firefighters and they all say that one of the worst assignments they have is the “washdown” where they have to come in and spray down blood from the streets after shootings. This guy seems to have had a personal connection with Giffords. Imagine having to wash her blood and brain matter from the street while your neanderthal coworkers are making Limbaugh-style cracks about her / calling her a Feminazi, etc.
My money’s on that being the skinny here, or at least something akin to it.
WereBear
I’m so pleased to hear. They should be encouraging her to sing; it will help her speak.
Gustopher
I bet it happens all the time. When I have a bad day at work, I write crappy code. When they have a bad day at work, someone might not get saved.
I don’t know how you would fix that, other than taking humans out of the equation completely. You can have people double checking medicines and procedures, but what if both of them are having a bad day.
I’m not blaming the emergency workers. The fact that first responders can continue to function despite this makes them more like heroes to me.
Julie
@MattF:
Actually, emergency services are already privatized. In most major cities (though a quick search didn’t provide a definitive answer to whether this is the case in Tuscon), private sector EMS companies contracted by the city, county, etc., are the actual first responders — the fire dept. is called in as the ‘second wave’ of response (and often the private paramedics on-scene cancel them before they even get there).
Full disclosure on this: my husband is a paramedic for one of these private companies.
There are a lot of things broken with the private + public first responders set-up, but that’s not the point of this discussion. If that is the way things are run in Tucson it does put this story in a slightly different light.
Paul in KY
@geg6: If he really did vote for Rep. Giffords, etc. then that’s sorta what I think too.
Paul in KY
@Otto Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): I’m sure Stuart doesn’t give a rat’s ass about Rep. Giffords, but I don’t really like any talk about Senate races for her either.
The lady came >< close to dying. Let's get her healthy before we send her out to win a Senate seat in Arizona.
JustMe
I think that EMT culture tolerates too much ‘blame the victim’ and other sorts of prejudice against people in need.
There’s really no way to deal with the full swath of the public day in and day out and still feel compassion for everyone. Being an EMT is not a “calling.” It’s a job, and they have to deal with horrible people on a regular basis. You can’t expect “normal” people to be compassionate nurturers after all of that.
Commish
It is weird. As a firefighter-EMT myself, based on the facts at hand this fellow’s response seems inexcusable and he should have been fired, or put off-duty pending mental evaluation, if he hadn’t retired.
One aspect that may not be clear here is that this guy was not part of the initial response. He was dispatched as part of a support crew, 90 minutes after the actual shooting when all of the victims had already been transported to hospitals. I like to believe that if he had been summoned on the initial response, he would have set personal issues aside and jumped on the rig. Still, inexcusable…
What follows is pure speculation. By the time the call came in for Ekstrum’s unit the shootings had been all over the news for an hour and I’m sure the subject of much discussion in the firehouse. Emergency workers tend toward right-of-center and in AZ I imagine even moreso than in my own Big Liberal City on the West Coast. If Ekstrum was the only Dem (or left-leaning independent, or Giffords sympathizer or whatever his slant was) he may have heard lots of ugly comments from his colleagues, and perhaps gotten into some verbal altercations. Considering that he was asked to respond with them to what was NOT by that time an emergency, and my entirely speculative scenario….his failure to respond is still inexcuseable but maybe a little less irrational.
Let’s not forget also he was a 28-year vet with a good service history. Lots of good men and women I work with carry around what should probably be called PTSD – I’m not qualified to diagnose but we encounter lots of really ugly stuff on the job, and who knows what Ekstrum may have carried around and what this event (and his colleagues’ response to it) may have triggered in him.
I guess as a fellow firefighter I’m groping for reasons to sympathize. But his response was unacceptable nevertheless – if he hadn’t retired he should have been put off duty while evaluated for PTSD or emotional stability, and either offered treatment or terminated.
andy
So why do right wingers gravitate toward the EMT thing? Are they too dumb to get an MBA so go for the slot where they get a uniform? I would think the service thing would go against their ethos, though the only EMT I know *is* a right wing asshole.
Nerem
@Stephen1947
I don’t get how you can be an EMT and not have basic humanity. Even if you deal with shitty people all day, being malicious and intentionally cruel to a patient because you can’t/won’t let him have what he needs (ice water for overheating for example) is just beyond the pale. Or to call him ‘entitled’? Man, it sounds like those EMTs are the entitled pricks.
Pongo
@cathyx: I read somewhere (so it must be true) speculation that he was a Gifford’s supporter and didn’t want to hear all the Tea Bagger inappropriate BS comments being made by his fellow ‘patriots’ on the way to the scene. Doesn’t make it right. He had a job to and he should have done it. But there are times when the nastiness of the hard right is intolerable and if this truly reflects the situation he was in, it’s not hard to understand how he felt.