Instructions As the chief of University City Fire Rescue, you have a council mee

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Instructions
As the chief of University City Fire Rescue, you have a council meeting tomorrow night. This morning, a fatal traffic accident occurred involving one of your paramedics responding to an emergency. Click here for a copy of the news release about the incident and the subsequent charges against the paramedic. As the media is moving on this, you are preparing a memorandum advising the city council of the potential legal actions that may come against the paramedic and the department.
Your memorandum should highlight and cover all concerns involving the civil liability that can be directed toward your agency. Identify the differences between the criminal charges that have been filed and the possible civil liabilities. Describe potential civil liabilities and possible actions against the agency. The city manager has requested that you cite previous cases to assist the council in understanding the potential outcomes of this incident. Also, discuss plans that will be put in place to avoid future incidents and liability.
Your assignment should be at least two pages in length, not including your title and reference pages. Include at least two outside sources. All sources used must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted material must have accompanying citations and be cited per APA guidelines. Be sure to use APA style throughout the assignment.
Press Release:
Reckless Homicide Charge Brought Against University City Fire Rescue Paramedic in Fatal Crash
A paramedic with the University City Fire Rescue was charged with a felony count of reckless homicide
in connection with a high-speed crash that caused the death of a Universal County woman Aug. 8.
A criminal information report filed today in Universal County Superior Court 3 charges Michael O.
Leary with causing the death of Julie Doe as the result of recklessly operating the emergency vehicle
he was driving while en route to a report of a houseboat sinking on the University River. The charging
information was prepared by Universal County Sheriff’s Det. Elliott Ness and filed by the prosecutor
who said Leary’s actions on the emergency run exceeded what was prudent and safe, resulting in the
woman’s death.
Leary was eastbound on University City Pike, just inside the city limits of University City, on Aug. 8,
and was passing a line of traffic at a speed above the posted limit when a car driven by Doe attempted
to make a left turn into the driveway of her residence and was struck broadside about 4:45 p.m. The
vehicles traveled 158 feet after the impact, with the front of the F250 pickup driven by Leary
embedded in the driver’s side of the Dodge Intrepid driven by Doe.
She sustained massive chest and head injuries and was transported from the scene to University City
Hospital, where she died.
Witnesses cited in the probable cause affidavit filed by Ness say Leary was traveling nearly 65 miles
per hour and accelerating prior to the crash. An accident investigator hired by the Doe family put the
speed at the point of impact at 65 miles per hour. Kenneth R. Agent, a transportation research
engineer for the state transportation cabinet, said Leary’s’ speed would have been higher prior to his
braking before impact. The University City Fire Department truck he was driving was equipped with
antilock brakes, so there were no skid marks to show Leary’s’ efforts to stop, investigators said.
Ness said his investigation showed Leary had been in Universalville earlier that day because he was
attending department-sanctioned training. He left the fire station in Universalville and drove to
University City, where he planned to return to work at 5 p.m.
While driving to the central fire station, Leary heard a dispatch on his truck’s radio, which was
scanning local emergency radio frequencies, saying that Universal County officials had received a
report of a houseboat capsizing with people in the water. He was notified that the University City Fire
Department was being called to respond as mutual aid in connection with the boat incident and was
being asked to put the department’s rescue boat in the water. A transmission from University City Fire
Chief asked Leary to meet the dispatched crews at Admiral Davey Jones Anchor, where the
department’s rescue boat is kept.
The charging information notes that ironically, Universal County had reached the scene and cancelled
all responding emergency personnel, saying the boat had beached itself on the shore and was stable.
That call came minutes before the fatal crash, according to the court documents filed today. Leary said
he never received word the call was canceled and was operating on the last instructions he received
from the fire chief.
Another issue in the charging affidavit is whether Leary was responding with reasonable caution to the
call. Witnesses told police his truck failed to stop or even slow down for stop signs and was
accelerating as it approached a line of cars that it was passing on a double-yellow line at the time of
impact. Leary said he was traveling no more than 10 miles per hour above the posted speed limit
when the accident occurred, and that the Doe vehicle pulled from a line of stopped traffic around one
or more vehicles to turn into the driveway when the crash occurred.
Lt. Barney Goobler of the Sheriff’s Department investigated the crash site. Goobler estimated the
speed at the point of impact to be between 51 and 63 miles per hour and suggested calling an expert
to determine the speed prior to impact because there were no skid marks. The information cites a
number of eyewitnesses who placed the speed of the truck at between 50 and 65 miles per hour. An
eyewitness was in the rear of the line of stopped traffic near the crash site and put the speed of the
truck at between 60 and 65 miles per hour.
A westbound motorist on University City Pike said she saw the truck hit the car three times as the
vehicles skidded off of the roadway and came to a rest. She estimated the truck’s speed at 50 to 60
miles per hour, the affidavit stated. Mrs. Ford, another westbound motorist, reported that Leary was
“erratically passing several cars on a double yellow line.” She said she pulled into the eastbound lane
behind the Doe car “within seconds” of Doe’s car being struck by Leary. She said she saw the lights
and heard the siren. She estimated his speed at around 50 or 60 miles per hour prior to the crash.
Mr. Mercury, another witness, also said Leary passed his vehicle at between 50 and 60 miles per hour,
and said he did not hear a siren or see the lights until the truck was right on top of him. The truck had
a red light bar inside on the dash and had wig-wag headlights, but the crash occurred in daylight when
the lights are least visible.
Eyewitness Mr. Grimm said he was eastbound on University City Pike and saw the Leary truck
approach from behind. He said as Leary rounded a slight hillcrest, he “nailed it,” saying the paramedic
“accelerated and took off,” prior to the crash. Grimm thought the truck was traveling 65 miles per
hour prior to the crash. A motorist getting gas at a service station at Market and Graham streets
reported seeing the fire department truck, “reared up” and “flying” as it “never touched its brakes
when it went through the stop sign at Graham Street and Market Street.” He estimated the truck to be
traveling at 65 to 70 miles per hour, although the witness said the vehicle may have been moving
even faster than that. Mr. Agent subpoenaed records from Universal County Central Alarm regarding
the incident and learned that University City units were called to assist Universal County with a boat
sinking in the river at 4:27 p.m. The alarm was repeated at 4:28 p.m. and followed by a request that
University City put its boat in the water at 4:36 p.m.
At 4:37 p.m., six minutes prior to the fatal crash, Central Alarm transmitted a message for University
City firefighters to cancel their run, saying that the boat had been beached and that no lives were in
jeopardy. Universal County reported a radio transmission saying that responding units could cancel
their run at 4:37 p.m., some six minutes before the fatal crash in Universal County. Leary reported
being within one minute of Admiral Davey Jones’s Anchor prior to the fatal crash. Still, the state
asserts Leary failed to exercise reasonable care and control over the vehicle while responding to the
incident and created a hazard to public safety that resulted in Doe’s death. Leary was working for both
the University City Fire Rescue and New Washington County EMS departments at the time of the
crash. He had been employed by University City since June 5, 2011.
Leary worked with New Washington County EMS where he made as many as 150 EMS runs per month
as an ambulance driver. He also previously worked for Green Ambulance until March 2012, where he
made approximately 3,000 ambulance runs. Subpoenaed records of his most recent employment with
New Washington County EMS reflect that Leary was an “excellent employee, but that a complaint of
fast driving had been received.” If convicted, Leary could face up to eight years in prison and a
$10,000 fine for the C felony statute

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