TOMS RIVER (VINnews) — A member of Hatzolah in Lakewood was detained by police and handcuffed, after he was accused of brandishing a firearm.
On Friday, shortly before Shabbos, an apparently disgruntled motorist called the police and claimed that the volunteer had waved a gun while responding to an emergency call.
The Hatzolah member was heading to an urgent call in Toms River when the driver, who had refused to yield to the emergency vehicle, contacted police and falsely reported that the volunteer had aimed a gun out of the window of his vehicle.
The driver then followed the Hatzolah member to the emergency, and reported his location to authorities.
When the Hatzolah member was leaving the scene, the police placed him in handcuffs and conducted a search of his vehicle. They did not find a weapon.
According to one report, he does indeed own a gun, which the police later discovered safely and legally inside his home.
He was released from custody just a few minutes before the arrival of Shabbos.
Below is a tweet which appears to be discussing a similar incident:
Anti-Semitism and animosity towards a completely volunteer EMT service is going to cost lives. Unreported is a story from Howell last week in which a Howell police officer ticketed a Hatzolah volunteer Who responded to a call for an unresponsive child. This needs to stop.… pic.twitter.com/aod0FZEefK
— Donovan Presley (@DonovanPresley2) August 27, 2023
So insane that this had to happen to a devoted hatzala remember the police should arrest this driver for failing to yield to an emergency vehicle endangering a life and he should get compensated for false arrest
Just for that, the person who reported the Hatzolah member should be arrested for making a false claim.
He should have a good lawsuit against the other driver.
I don’t know about you, but if someone points a gun at me the last thing I’ll do is follow him.
The focus of the story should be, on the person who called the police, not the police officers. They only did their job and investigate the report.
You don’t know exactly what this person reported. If he said I believe I saw the driver pointing a gun, that is legal. Also reporting to the police has its
legal exceptions.
No I am not a lawyer. However, once I called police on a driver on the opposite side at the gas pump, as I came out of the restroom, I saw him bending down and as he saw me coming, he jumped up. I was convinced that he took my hose and pumped gas into his car. He sued me for defamation, and I defended myself pro se.
Police viewed the store video and saw him bending down and picking up a pice of paper. I got a summary judgement with prejudice. Because the police report quoted me as saying “I believe he pumped my gas into his car.” I also found a few caselaw where people were found not liable, because when you report an incident to police, there is an exception for defamation.
Sorry I am long winded.
the person that made the false report needs to be charged on at least two counts, 1) failure to yield to emergency vehicle. 2) filing a false police report!
The police are not our friends.
People do make mistakes. It’s possible he did brandish the weapon and one of the other Hatzolah members took the firearm back to his house.
Something is fishy he is accused of branding a gun and of all people he’s the one that actually owns one.