M. K. is a Melamed in a Tel Aviv talmid torah. This week his son took a fall during playtime and it was evident medical intervention was necessary. M.K. took his son in his vehicle and headed to a nearby kupat cholim for treatment. He admits he was driving quickly, but stressed he did not ignore traffic law.
After stopping briefly for a stop sign a traffic policeman pulled him over, explaining that while he did stop, it was not a complete stop. The driver explained the situation and requested that the officer look at his son, who was bleeding in the vehicle. The office stated “the cut is minor” and continued requesting his paperwork, instructing him to get into the car and wait or be arrested. Passersby saw what was taking place and intervened, trying to persuade the traffic policeman to release the driver, but to no avail. He was detained about 20 minutes until the officer completed writing the summons.
The driver obtained a document from the HMO attesting to the seriousness of the injury and treatment.
BaKehilla contacted Tel Aviv police for a statement. Officials stated the matter will be investigated and if the driver’s story is indeed accurate, the summons will be canceled.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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19 Responses
The summons will be cancelled?–That’s all?
How about disciplining the cop for abusing citizens?
What arrogance!
How about this officer being cancelled?! What a Rasha!
“if the driver’s story is indeed accurate, the summons will be canceled”??
The COP should be cancelled!!!!
First and foremost, get the officer’s name and number. At the least, he should be sent to retraining for these types of situations and the child deserves an apology. Second and of lesser importance is the court summons. If it goes to a judge, there will not be such a pretty picture. I am sure they will cancel it, but only so that it will not get into more problematic legal action.
That’s it?! Just ‘the summons will be canceled’? What about charges to the cop?
The summons will be cancelled – what about the cop losing his job and being charged with reckless endangerment of human life. Sorry I forgot the victims were haredim so nothing will be done.
Is the cop from NY?
Our cops here are not much better!
There may be another side to this story–
1) If the HMO said the injury was serious, then the father should have called an ambulance at the outset. Either the condition requires emergency care (call for help) or not. There is no excuse for driving recklessly. The father is an emotionally stressful situation (kid bleeding) so his view of his own driving is emotionally tainted.
2) The question of whether he came to a full and complete stop is the issue here. If he didn’t, then he put others at risk and probably deserves a ticket.
3) Cops see a lot of injuries. While not necessarily medically trained, they do have some experience at seeing people bleeding.
4) Since when does a note from a doctor excuse reckless driving? This isn’t like missing a day at school.
Shlomo- you’re comments, although written intelligently, are actually void of understanding or compassion. Not every cut needs an ambulance, even if it’s important. Not completely stopping for a stop sign puts absolutely noone at risk.
It’s easy to blindly denounce every minor legal infraction and praise the wise judgement of every police officer. To use your own brains is a bit harder.
smartaleck, ” Not completely stopping for a stop sign puts absolutely noone at risk.” uhhm… not true!
According to the Fatality Analysis Reporting System,
there were 13,627 cars involved in fatal automobile accidents caused by running a stop sign in 1999 and 2000.
Welcome to the police’d state of Israel. The police have been abusing their power for years. You people in America have no idea what goes on here. Come live here for a few months…..
Uhmmm…he didn’t “run” the stop sign. According to this article, which is your source as well as mine, he stopped, but not completely.
It’s a matter of technicality and the cop’s ego more than anything else.
#9 For one thing driving directly can get to the hospital faster in some cases then waiting for the ambulance which then had to race back to the hospital anyway.
And even with sirens wailing, Ambulances sometimes crash, also.
#11 Not stopping fully is not the same as racing through the stop sign without even slowing down.
If he slowed down and came almost came to a stop and saw no one else was comming from either direction, then he was not putting anyone else in danger.
Your stastics do not specify how many or if any of those fatalities were from people who slowed down almost to a stop and still caused fatal crashes anyway.
I do not support such ‘almost stops’ in most cases for the average driver, but I would show some leniency, for a serious medical emergency.
i agree with shlomos jist.
smartaleck:
The point of my post was to highlight that there are other sides to the story. All of the responses to this story were highly critical of the police officer. I’m only pointing out that the situation is not so simple.
I do have an understanding of emergencies and do have compassion. I understand that if a cut doesn’t warrant an ambulance, it does not warrant a father driving recklessly in a private vehicle. I’m being compassionate for the pedestrians and drivers that the father put at risk.
Using our brains is hard! It’s tough to put prejudice and history behind us and to be a fair and neutral judge of each and every situation.
It’s easy to “pile on” the stupid cops that are out there. It’s easy to say “the child is bleeding and everything else is secondary.”
The real world is harder. And the real world requires that we remember there are some good cops, that some parents over react, that not all bleeding is dangerous, and that running stop signs is dangerous.
I believe the right term over here is that the cop should be fired (which I agree with) and not cancelled.
To #12 Buzbuz – The cops in the U.S. are no better! They abuse their power like crazy.
The only possible advantage here is that they may be a bit more accountable for their actions here than in E.Y.
the police is a little too full of himself