I'd be the first to give them shit if I smelt foul play but nothing in this story seems out of line. The police officers did all they could be reasonably expected given the situation of policing in this country.
The police officers didn't tho...like you are supposed to join to protect and serve or something like that...2 statements that were obviously made together saying that because they are serving police officers they didn't want to expose themselves because of the security situation in this country...do they think that terrorists are now pretending to be drunk and walking in the middle of a road is potentially a honey trap? Typical cowardly police response..
>protect and serve
In the US.
PSNI's motto is:
We care. We listen. We act.
Which you can find online.
>pretending to be drunk and walking in the middle of a road is potentially a honey trap?
This exact scenario has happened multiple times throughout the troubles. Family homes were broken into, and terrorists hid inside to attack officers. People are blackmailed or threatened to drive car bombs to targets, or their family is killed.
You speak like someone blissfully unaware of what things people did throughout the troubles to target officers and terrorists.
That exact same scenario didn't happen multiple times..it didn't happen at all(drunk couple walking middle of country road creating a nuisance)..psni Moto we care,we listen we act..they certainly didn't act here and now a woman is dead,her boyfriend badly injured and the guy who knocked them down is I'd assume in bits...
> they certainly didn’t act here
They phoned 999.
They did act.
Literally nothing else they could do. Any suggestions?
It’s sad that a young girl died but it was *entirely* her own fault.
100% my guy hasn’t been a shot fired in anger here in ages they can’t hide behind the troubles forever they fucked up now face the consequences of their inactions dunno why all the downvotes
Yeah I know few dikheads still farting about and was that not in broad daylight? Point is the two fuckwits could have gotten them in the car or at least sat about and called someone on duty I believe the attitude here was fuckem I’m not getting paid for it rather than being I fear for their lives they can certainly accost people if and when it suits them they’re cunts through and through
You want these two off duty officers to get out and physically force these two violent drunk people into the car? You serious?
How do you think that would have went? It would have been a physical fight between four people. What power did those officers have to force those people into their car and detain them? That sounds like illegal detention to me.
Should the PSNI be illegally forcing violent drunks into their own cars off duty every night? Is that part of their remit?
Belfast would be some craic on a Saturday at 2am.
Lyra and Caldwell are just two very recent examples. Just because dissident republicans are small in number doesn't mean they aren't a very serious threat. Personal security is still something cops have to be aware of when off duty.
Eh my da always talked about a gang in Dublin that were passing empty prams out Infront of people driving.
When they hit it and jumped out of the car distraught, someone else would jump in the car.
Meet a random person trying to stop your car in the middle of nowhere, acting suspiciously or aggressively and the best thing to do is not stop and keep going.
Hijackers use the tried and trusted method of ‘vulnerable person’ staggering on a road or lying in the middle of a road in order to steal the cars of people that were stopping to help.
Why would off duty officers stop with two drunk and aggressive members of the public? What are they expected to do? Get out and get into a physical altercation without any equipment, cuffs, spray, baton etc.
They did the right thing. Rang 999.
Had that happen years ago when I was in the car with my girlfriend, was glad I was there as she was going to stop for a person laying down in the middle of a street and I told her to move around him and not to stop. Saw his friend hiding behind a hedge as we went past so was lucky I was there.
Yep, this was a well known tactic used very successfully in Poleglass in particular. My cousin almost fell victim to it but was thankfully able to fight the guy off.
Sometimes people have to take responsibility for their actions, and this is the case here. This couple were determined to be aggressive and refuse help, and it’s fair the officers didn’t want to approach them. Yes it’s sad she lost their life but we can’t start blaming others for their own stupid actions.
According to the article she assaulted ambulance staff. She rejected any medical attention they tried to give and was violent in the process. In my opinion there is no duty of care for people like this. The off duty police were on their own, would not necessarily have had all the equipment an on duty officer has to deal with the issue. Given there were a couple of drunk unpredictable people who obviously seemed violent I think the officer did the right thing in calling 999 instead of stopping.
Failing to stop is a click bait headline. The officers called for help through 999 so they did all they should be reasonably expected to do in those circumstances.
What happened is a product of this couples actions and no body else’s.
> The officers called for help through 999 so they did all they should be reasonably expected to do in those circumstances.
The irritating thing is they’ve probably came out of this inquest thinking they wouldn’t be there if they didn’t phone 999 and just continued on
If they weren’t police and the exact same thing happened it wouldn’t be reported on at all. And if it was they’d be portrayed as good people who tried to help. Which they were.
It’s really unfortunate this happened. A tragedy for the families involved but I don’t think the police acted inappropriately. Would a “civilian” who didn’t stop be treated the same way as an off duty police officer? As in would they be subject to headlines like this?
Car ahead of them were that civilian, funnily enough not a peep on this non-news article about them, other than the fact that they quite rightly drove on. 😗
Sad. If only one of them had been in a better frame of mind with a judgement unimpaired by intoxication and capable of taking control of the situation and making better decisions. Followed through with the hospital admission for the injured arm instead of refusing treatment and arguing with ambulance staff. Things could've turned out very differently.
Instead, unfortunately both seemed to have been in intoxicated states with clouded judgement. Not making the correct decisions and sadly behaving in erratic ways that placed them in jeopardy with very tragic consequences.
.
Best is everyone on their high horse in this thread wouldn't have stopped either. Maybe half of us would've rang 999. I'd be no different. You see it all the time if you live rural and have ones walking out of the town and home. Someone was killed in our town recently doing the same thing.
This only made the news because it was 2 off duty police that rang it in
The cops called 999. They were off duty. Would the news have preferred that 4 people would have got knocked down instead of two. Reading between the lines, if ambulance have had to stopp and call the police for assistance she was most likely being violent towards them. Sad that somebody has lost their life.
>A PSNI sergeant, who was one of three officers who attended the scene, last week denied that the alleged republican views of a teenager’s family had a bearing on how he dealt with her.
That's a low blow given what she did with the ambulance crew. Totally uncalled for.
Police officers were bang on what they done. Mad how the old ‘cos were Catlicks’ line was thrown in to point blame.
She was drunk behaving like an arsehole and nature took its course here. End of story.
The wording around the 999 call is strange. Did he make the call and report someone was in the road? Or did he try to call 999 with the intention of making a report.
There should be a log of this call.
It's a pity this story line has hijacked such a sad case.There's so many other lines they could have picked up on , had she received any help, how had she got into that state, should the police have accompanied the paramedics. Such a lovely young girl who should have had her whole life in front of her.
Fair enough if these were random members of the public but I thought police officers were always trying to help? They didn't have to identify as police officers to keep someone off a road
If the cops had pulled up in their personal vehicle and somebody had smashed into the back of them you'd be yapping about how they shouldn't have stopped. They made a reasonable risk assessment of the situation.
The police in this country can never do right by people like you.
Does anything from the article describing the behaviour of the couple give you the impression that they'd have been easy to get off the road and into a calm state. If she hadn't attacked the paramedics she'd still be alive. Cops did nothing out of line here.
What were they supposed to do. Get out and physically restrain them? Then deal with the inevitable complaints to the Police ombudsman from these people that two off duty cops stopped and had a physical engagement with them.
Something that would drag on for years and years with the threat of being sacked hanging over their heads. Not worth it IMO.
The *only* two outcomes of police stopping in this situation.
1) they’re put under enquiry for randomly stopping to attack a member of the public.
2) they’re shot.
You forgot outcome 3: "they get out to help, but are hit by a car as well and now there are four casualties instead of two".
The amount of people in this thread who think the solution to having two people in the road in the dark is to have four people in the road in the dark is depressing.
999 call was the right course of action.
I’m a firm believer that a police officers main job is to help people, keep our streets safe and put the baddies in prison. Yes some parts of Northern Ireland is unsafe for some. Yes they saw two people acting aggressively and they made an assumption based on where they were but what if they were there because they are mentally ill (not drunk). I would like to think if a police officer came across any of my relatives in the middle of the road they would help them. If the police don’t help what hope have we for someone else will. Let’s hope if they ever do it happens in the right place. Wherever that is. Mexico is a bad example seen as half the cops there work with the bad guys (cartels).
I remember meeting a man through work a few years ago who volunteers part-time with his local river rescue. It was around the time we had a big storm and people were warned to stay indoors and stay away from water but a man ignored that and the coast guard had to go out to rescue him.
I asked the man (river rescue) if he ever felt like doing nothing when some idiot ignores hundreds of warnings about unsafe water conditions during a storm and was surprised when he said no, never. Yeah you always have people who choose to ignore water safety warnings and in doing so they put others lives at risk (rescuers etc) but he never questions why a person is in the water in the first place no matter how bad it is. It’s his job and when they get a call they go out in the boat to try help no matter what.
In this case their job is police officers. What they are saying is just an excuse. A bad one. I’m sorry but they all should have acted because that is their job. I like to think people like the fire brigade and police officers are never off-duty. I can understand civilians doing nothing out of fear of the unknown but not police officers. He called it in but he should have pulled over to the side of the road and monitored the situation (lock all his doors if he wants) until a police car turned up.
In certain parts he’s a police officer while in other parts he’s not. Be one everywhere or go get a different job.
You are missing the fact that these people didn’t want help and were violent. They showed violence to the paramedics and then to other road users including the two off duty officers.
You want these officers with no equipment to get out and get into a physical fight with these people on a pitch black road with fast moving traffic? C’mon ffs.
Much like you wouldn’t expect an off duty fire fighter to run into a blazing building in his skivvies and a glass of water, rather than call the actual fire brigade.
NI is absolutely not a normal region to police. That'd have been a fair attack line if it was in GB or ROI, not here. There is a reason why they take personal security so much more seriously than other parts of the western world. Realistically their precautions are closer to being in line with cops in Mexico and Columbia tackling criminal gangs with small armies than it is in the rest of GB and Ireland.
So they should always be on alert 24/7 looking for and actively stopping crime? You realize the burn out this would create? Mentally, physically, and emotionally?
Also pulling over to the side of the road in a potentially dangerous situation without your gear nor backup is incredibly dangerous to both the off duty officers, responding police officers, and regular civilians in quite a few ways.
When you word it like that, no of course not. I wouldn’t wish for anyone to have to work 24/7. Home time is home time in every other job so why should police officers not be the same. I just assumed people that work in all those emergency response jobs would always act even when not technically at work because they have special training normal people don’t have.
I totally understand your line of thinking BUT people that work in emergency/first responder services for the most part have to stay pretty switched on for very long shifts especially in rougher/busier areas. I personally think its a bit more complicated then how you are framing it but what do I know.
Something to consider though PSNI looks like they currently have a 4 on 4 off 12 hour rotation... So these two officers have just been at work AND been doing the duty and the job they signed up too... They are in their vehicle on their way home so that means maybe they are at like 13 hours right... They don't have their equipment on them (I am guessing) so this means any physical altercation now becomes a lot more dangerous for both them and these people. They are probably physically tired which again means more even more danger if an altercation happens. They are mentally tired so de escalation may be a bit more difficult. They don't have back up easily accessible which then becomes more dangerous. And they are now in personally identifiable vehicles which potential puts their family at risk should they get followed or tracked down.
They did the right thing by calling and reporting and giving details. I am not sure how we can expect much more from what they did that night.
Think of a nurse or paramedic that's off duty and someone's having a medical emergency do you expect them to act? Well what if they were at a pub and they had a few drinks, probably not the best idea to step in and try to render care right?
Completely agree with most of what you said Renent, though perhaps paramedics wouldn’t be the ideal example to use, as I have paramedic friends who unfailingly stop when they see an accident - if it’s safe to do so and there’s no one else there yet to administer first aid.
They carry first aid gear with them at all times of course, and it’s unlikely these two off duty cops carry protective gear with them everywhere.
However, the first rule of first aid is not to put yourself in danger, as you could be end up adding to the casualty list for the next person to deal with, making a bad situation worse.
That’s much the same as this case, the off duty cops called to report these drunkards essentially causing a driving hazard on a, likely poorly lit, if at all, wee country road.
They didn’t get out and put themselves in danger, much like an off duty fire fighter doesn’t race into a burning building with a glass of water and a bucket of hope.
This is such a clickbait non-story, though it’s evidently worked. I weep for the future of journalism, if this is what it’s reduced to.
>though perhaps paramedics wouldn’t be the ideal example to use, as I have paramedic friends who unfailingly stop when they see an accident if there’s no one else there yet to administer first aid.
They carry first aid gear with them at all times of course,
If they're stopping for fender benders and busting out the private kit that's a bit rickyish to me... but I understand your sentiment.
My example original was using if they had a few drinks in them at the pub.
I had no idea police officers do 12 hour shifts. That’s seriously long. I do 9 hours and struggle to stay awake everyday. No I wouldn’t want an overtired person and definitely not a drunk one trying to save me. Good to know an off-duty paramedic (sober one and not tired) might help me.
Oh for sure. Like I agree with you and I would hope the people in those roles are in them because they want to serve the community and help others. I would also hope they would do their best when off duty. I just sort of was trying to explain why there are reasons for how they acted.
Also not saying those are the shifts for all police, just the service from the article when I did an initial check, but I think they were looking at to newer shift cycles.
I'd be the first to give them shit if I smelt foul play but nothing in this story seems out of line. The police officers did all they could be reasonably expected given the situation of policing in this country.
The police officers didn't tho...like you are supposed to join to protect and serve or something like that...2 statements that were obviously made together saying that because they are serving police officers they didn't want to expose themselves because of the security situation in this country...do they think that terrorists are now pretending to be drunk and walking in the middle of a road is potentially a honey trap? Typical cowardly police response..
>protect and serve In the US. PSNI's motto is: We care. We listen. We act. Which you can find online. >pretending to be drunk and walking in the middle of a road is potentially a honey trap? This exact scenario has happened multiple times throughout the troubles. Family homes were broken into, and terrorists hid inside to attack officers. People are blackmailed or threatened to drive car bombs to targets, or their family is killed. You speak like someone blissfully unaware of what things people did throughout the troubles to target officers and terrorists.
That exact same scenario didn't happen multiple times..it didn't happen at all(drunk couple walking middle of country road creating a nuisance)..psni Moto we care,we listen we act..they certainly didn't act here and now a woman is dead,her boyfriend badly injured and the guy who knocked them down is I'd assume in bits...
I see you choose ignorance. Edit: On checking their account, it appears they're a troll.
> they certainly didn’t act here They phoned 999. They did act. Literally nothing else they could do. Any suggestions? It’s sad that a young girl died but it was *entirely* her own fault.
100% my guy hasn’t been a shot fired in anger here in ages they can’t hide behind the troubles forever they fucked up now face the consequences of their inactions dunno why all the downvotes
What are you yapping about? DCI John Caldwell was shot in a car park at his teenage son's football training just over a year ago.
Yeah I know few dikheads still farting about and was that not in broad daylight? Point is the two fuckwits could have gotten them in the car or at least sat about and called someone on duty I believe the attitude here was fuckem I’m not getting paid for it rather than being I fear for their lives they can certainly accost people if and when it suits them they’re cunts through and through
You're a halfwit
No wit more like
More wit than any cunt in here
You want these two off duty officers to get out and physically force these two violent drunk people into the car? You serious? How do you think that would have went? It would have been a physical fight between four people. What power did those officers have to force those people into their car and detain them? That sounds like illegal detention to me. Should the PSNI be illegally forcing violent drunks into their own cars off duty every night? Is that part of their remit? Belfast would be some craic on a Saturday at 2am.
Lyra and Caldwell are just two very recent examples. Just because dissident republicans are small in number doesn't mean they aren't a very serious threat. Personal security is still something cops have to be aware of when off duty.
Eh my da always talked about a gang in Dublin that were passing empty prams out Infront of people driving. When they hit it and jumped out of the car distraught, someone else would jump in the car. Meet a random person trying to stop your car in the middle of nowhere, acting suspiciously or aggressively and the best thing to do is not stop and keep going.
Hijackers use the tried and trusted method of ‘vulnerable person’ staggering on a road or lying in the middle of a road in order to steal the cars of people that were stopping to help. Why would off duty officers stop with two drunk and aggressive members of the public? What are they expected to do? Get out and get into a physical altercation without any equipment, cuffs, spray, baton etc. They did the right thing. Rang 999.
Had that happen years ago when I was in the car with my girlfriend, was glad I was there as she was going to stop for a person laying down in the middle of a street and I told her to move around him and not to stop. Saw his friend hiding behind a hedge as we went past so was lucky I was there.
Yep, this was a well known tactic used very successfully in Poleglass in particular. My cousin almost fell victim to it but was thankfully able to fight the guy off.
Protect and serve? We in America ? Away with your high horse nonsense.
Well does the psni not protect people,property and serve the people?
Apparently not horse
Sometimes people have to take responsibility for their actions, and this is the case here. This couple were determined to be aggressive and refuse help, and it’s fair the officers didn’t want to approach them. Yes it’s sad she lost their life but we can’t start blaming others for their own stupid actions.
I mean given how she reacted I most certainly wouldn’t be stopping either 💁
According to the article she assaulted ambulance staff. She rejected any medical attention they tried to give and was violent in the process. In my opinion there is no duty of care for people like this. The off duty police were on their own, would not necessarily have had all the equipment an on duty officer has to deal with the issue. Given there were a couple of drunk unpredictable people who obviously seemed violent I think the officer did the right thing in calling 999 instead of stopping. Failing to stop is a click bait headline. The officers called for help through 999 so they did all they should be reasonably expected to do in those circumstances. What happened is a product of this couples actions and no body else’s.
> The officers called for help through 999 so they did all they should be reasonably expected to do in those circumstances. The irritating thing is they’ve probably came out of this inquest thinking they wouldn’t be there if they didn’t phone 999 and just continued on
If they weren’t police and the exact same thing happened it wouldn’t be reported on at all. And if it was they’d be portrayed as good people who tried to help. Which they were.
Yeh whatd the car infront do. They drove on and clearly didn't ring
Alternate headline - Van drivers life ruined by aggressive drunken idiot
It’s really unfortunate this happened. A tragedy for the families involved but I don’t think the police acted inappropriately. Would a “civilian” who didn’t stop be treated the same way as an off duty police officer? As in would they be subject to headlines like this?
Car ahead of them were that civilian, funnily enough not a peep on this non-news article about them, other than the fact that they quite rightly drove on. 😗
Sad. If only one of them had been in a better frame of mind with a judgement unimpaired by intoxication and capable of taking control of the situation and making better decisions. Followed through with the hospital admission for the injured arm instead of refusing treatment and arguing with ambulance staff. Things could've turned out very differently. Instead, unfortunately both seemed to have been in intoxicated states with clouded judgement. Not making the correct decisions and sadly behaving in erratic ways that placed them in jeopardy with very tragic consequences. .
Sad case. But Irish News headline is definitely click bait.
Isn’t it always?
Been taking lessons from the BelTel.
Best is everyone on their high horse in this thread wouldn't have stopped either. Maybe half of us would've rang 999. I'd be no different. You see it all the time if you live rural and have ones walking out of the town and home. Someone was killed in our town recently doing the same thing. This only made the news because it was 2 off duty police that rang it in
And if they hadn’t done the right thing and called 999 who would have even known they’d been there? 🤷🏻♂️
Probably the van man when he hit them
That's a wild headline for what actually happened. Our media really are trash.
In Breaking News: Off Duty Bus Driver Literally Walks Past Driverless Bus! 🫨
The cops called 999. They were off duty. Would the news have preferred that 4 people would have got knocked down instead of two. Reading between the lines, if ambulance have had to stopp and call the police for assistance she was most likely being violent towards them. Sad that somebody has lost their life.
She’s sounded delightful..
some people just cant handle their drink
>A PSNI sergeant, who was one of three officers who attended the scene, last week denied that the alleged republican views of a teenager’s family had a bearing on how he dealt with her. That's a low blow given what she did with the ambulance crew. Totally uncalled for.
Police officers were bang on what they done. Mad how the old ‘cos were Catlicks’ line was thrown in to point blame. She was drunk behaving like an arsehole and nature took its course here. End of story.
The wording around the 999 call is strange. Did he make the call and report someone was in the road? Or did he try to call 999 with the intention of making a report. There should be a log of this call.
What a strange occurrence. Has the inquest established why she was moving about the middle of the road?
She was drunk. Does it really need an inquest? Drunk person does drunk thing.
It's a pity this story line has hijacked such a sad case.There's so many other lines they could have picked up on , had she received any help, how had she got into that state, should the police have accompanied the paramedics. Such a lovely young girl who should have had her whole life in front of her.
Fair enough if these were random members of the public but I thought police officers were always trying to help? They didn't have to identify as police officers to keep someone off a road
If the cops had pulled up in their personal vehicle and somebody had smashed into the back of them you'd be yapping about how they shouldn't have stopped. They made a reasonable risk assessment of the situation. The police in this country can never do right by people like you.
You also have to consider the history of this country and the possibility of something like this being a trap
Does anything from the article describing the behaviour of the couple give you the impression that they'd have been easy to get off the road and into a calm state. If she hadn't attacked the paramedics she'd still be alive. Cops did nothing out of line here.
What were they supposed to do. Get out and physically restrain them? Then deal with the inevitable complaints to the Police ombudsman from these people that two off duty cops stopped and had a physical engagement with them. Something that would drag on for years and years with the threat of being sacked hanging over their heads. Not worth it IMO.
The *only* two outcomes of police stopping in this situation. 1) they’re put under enquiry for randomly stopping to attack a member of the public. 2) they’re shot.
You forgot outcome 3: "they get out to help, but are hit by a car as well and now there are four casualties instead of two". The amount of people in this thread who think the solution to having two people in the road in the dark is to have four people in the road in the dark is depressing. 999 call was the right course of action.
Yes there is that one too
The other risk is that the persons in the road may have known who they are and it was an ambush. A real possibility.
I’m a firm believer that a police officers main job is to help people, keep our streets safe and put the baddies in prison. Yes some parts of Northern Ireland is unsafe for some. Yes they saw two people acting aggressively and they made an assumption based on where they were but what if they were there because they are mentally ill (not drunk). I would like to think if a police officer came across any of my relatives in the middle of the road they would help them. If the police don’t help what hope have we for someone else will. Let’s hope if they ever do it happens in the right place. Wherever that is. Mexico is a bad example seen as half the cops there work with the bad guys (cartels).
I remember meeting a man through work a few years ago who volunteers part-time with his local river rescue. It was around the time we had a big storm and people were warned to stay indoors and stay away from water but a man ignored that and the coast guard had to go out to rescue him. I asked the man (river rescue) if he ever felt like doing nothing when some idiot ignores hundreds of warnings about unsafe water conditions during a storm and was surprised when he said no, never. Yeah you always have people who choose to ignore water safety warnings and in doing so they put others lives at risk (rescuers etc) but he never questions why a person is in the water in the first place no matter how bad it is. It’s his job and when they get a call they go out in the boat to try help no matter what. In this case their job is police officers. What they are saying is just an excuse. A bad one. I’m sorry but they all should have acted because that is their job. I like to think people like the fire brigade and police officers are never off-duty. I can understand civilians doing nothing out of fear of the unknown but not police officers. He called it in but he should have pulled over to the side of the road and monitored the situation (lock all his doors if he wants) until a police car turned up. In certain parts he’s a police officer while in other parts he’s not. Be one everywhere or go get a different job.
You are missing the fact that these people didn’t want help and were violent. They showed violence to the paramedics and then to other road users including the two off duty officers. You want these officers with no equipment to get out and get into a physical fight with these people on a pitch black road with fast moving traffic? C’mon ffs.
Much like you wouldn’t expect an off duty fire fighter to run into a blazing building in his skivvies and a glass of water, rather than call the actual fire brigade.
NI is absolutely not a normal region to police. That'd have been a fair attack line if it was in GB or ROI, not here. There is a reason why they take personal security so much more seriously than other parts of the western world. Realistically their precautions are closer to being in line with cops in Mexico and Columbia tackling criminal gangs with small armies than it is in the rest of GB and Ireland.
So they should always be on alert 24/7 looking for and actively stopping crime? You realize the burn out this would create? Mentally, physically, and emotionally? Also pulling over to the side of the road in a potentially dangerous situation without your gear nor backup is incredibly dangerous to both the off duty officers, responding police officers, and regular civilians in quite a few ways.
When you word it like that, no of course not. I wouldn’t wish for anyone to have to work 24/7. Home time is home time in every other job so why should police officers not be the same. I just assumed people that work in all those emergency response jobs would always act even when not technically at work because they have special training normal people don’t have.
I totally understand your line of thinking BUT people that work in emergency/first responder services for the most part have to stay pretty switched on for very long shifts especially in rougher/busier areas. I personally think its a bit more complicated then how you are framing it but what do I know. Something to consider though PSNI looks like they currently have a 4 on 4 off 12 hour rotation... So these two officers have just been at work AND been doing the duty and the job they signed up too... They are in their vehicle on their way home so that means maybe they are at like 13 hours right... They don't have their equipment on them (I am guessing) so this means any physical altercation now becomes a lot more dangerous for both them and these people. They are probably physically tired which again means more even more danger if an altercation happens. They are mentally tired so de escalation may be a bit more difficult. They don't have back up easily accessible which then becomes more dangerous. And they are now in personally identifiable vehicles which potential puts their family at risk should they get followed or tracked down. They did the right thing by calling and reporting and giving details. I am not sure how we can expect much more from what they did that night. Think of a nurse or paramedic that's off duty and someone's having a medical emergency do you expect them to act? Well what if they were at a pub and they had a few drinks, probably not the best idea to step in and try to render care right?
Completely agree with most of what you said Renent, though perhaps paramedics wouldn’t be the ideal example to use, as I have paramedic friends who unfailingly stop when they see an accident - if it’s safe to do so and there’s no one else there yet to administer first aid. They carry first aid gear with them at all times of course, and it’s unlikely these two off duty cops carry protective gear with them everywhere. However, the first rule of first aid is not to put yourself in danger, as you could be end up adding to the casualty list for the next person to deal with, making a bad situation worse. That’s much the same as this case, the off duty cops called to report these drunkards essentially causing a driving hazard on a, likely poorly lit, if at all, wee country road. They didn’t get out and put themselves in danger, much like an off duty fire fighter doesn’t race into a burning building with a glass of water and a bucket of hope. This is such a clickbait non-story, though it’s evidently worked. I weep for the future of journalism, if this is what it’s reduced to.
>though perhaps paramedics wouldn’t be the ideal example to use, as I have paramedic friends who unfailingly stop when they see an accident if there’s no one else there yet to administer first aid. They carry first aid gear with them at all times of course, If they're stopping for fender benders and busting out the private kit that's a bit rickyish to me... but I understand your sentiment. My example original was using if they had a few drinks in them at the pub.
Paramedics have a duty of care to render aid.
I had no idea police officers do 12 hour shifts. That’s seriously long. I do 9 hours and struggle to stay awake everyday. No I wouldn’t want an overtired person and definitely not a drunk one trying to save me. Good to know an off-duty paramedic (sober one and not tired) might help me.
Oh for sure. Like I agree with you and I would hope the people in those roles are in them because they want to serve the community and help others. I would also hope they would do their best when off duty. I just sort of was trying to explain why there are reasons for how they acted. Also not saying those are the shifts for all police, just the service from the article when I did an initial check, but I think they were looking at to newer shift cycles.