Review Group clears
record of officer in hospital-transport case
GENESEE COUNTY
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST
EDITION
Monday,
January 01, 2007
By
Ron Fonger
rfonger@flintjournal.com
• 810.766.6317
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QUICK TAKE
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Changing its view
· Oct. 9: After a shootout involving
police and a Flint Township man, Genesee
County sheriff's Deputy Casey Tafoya
drives a wounded officer directly to McLaren Regional
Medical Center
instead of waiting for an ambulance.
· Nov. 15: A local medical control review
group finds Tafoya's actions violated local and state regulations.
· Dec. 20: The group reverses its finding
after Sheriff Robert J. Pickell addresses the group.
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GENESEE COUNTY - A county paramedic's decision
to drive a wounded police officer to the hospital instead of waiting for an
ambulance won't tarnish his record after all.
The county Medical
Control Authority's Professional Standards Review Organization reversed
itself last week, deciding county sheriff's Deputy Casey Tafoya did nothing
improper in the case.
The reversal came after
a finding last month that Tafoya violated state and local rules on patient
transports and after a personal appeal by Sheriff Robert J. Pickell to the
12-member group.
"I appeared out there
and told them when they made the decision they made a good-faith decision,
but I didn't think they had all the information," Pickell said.
Tafoya, who Pickell said
would not comment, had loaded injured Flint Township Officer Jeff Hovey
into his paramedic vehicle after an Oct. 9 shootout at Hunters Ridge Manor
in Flint Township.
Rather than waiting for
an ambulance -the regular procedure -Tafoya drove Hovey less than two miles
to McLaren Regional Medical
Center.
Pickell protested in
November when the PSRO ruled Tafoya, a certified police officer and trained
paramedic, violated procedure for emergency medical services providers by
making the hospital trip.
The group's decision
sparked outrage by some. Pickell told other deputies they should handle any
situation just as Tafoya had done, and Hovey praised the paramedic for his
actions in a letter to The Flint Journal.
In the Dec. 20 meeting
of the PSRO, Pickell brought new information to the 12-member panel,
including a little-used state law that allows emergency actions such as
Tafoya's if an ambulance is not available in a reasonable time.
Pickell has said
emergency dispatch tapes indicate no ambulance was available when Tafoya
left the crime scene with Hovey.
Bruce A. Trevithick,
executive director of Medical Control, said the vote to reverse the earlier
decision was unanimous. He said any hard feelings about the issue haven't
lingered.
"I'm not sure there
were ever hard feelings," said Trevithick, who initially defended the
PSRO decision.
The group had taken no
other action against Tafoya, although it has the authority to take such
steps as placing a licensee on probation.
Hovey was one of two
officers shot after responding to a Flint Township
apartment building where Edward A. Campbell was eventually fatally shot by
police after shooting his own son.
Campbell's shot grazed Hovey's head.
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© 2007 Flint Journal. Used with permission
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