PA Fire Company Blames Trooper for Fight

Officials of a York fire company said Tuesday that a state trooper was the aggressor in a shoving incident at a crash scene on Interstate 83.

That statement issued by the Goodwill Fire Company contradicts a police report that laid the blame for the confrontation on one of the company’s lieutenants.

At issue is what happened when firefighters and troopers responded to a call about a one-vehicle crash with entrapment at 7:45 p.m. Sunday at Exit 16.

Troopers said they arrived to find a man inside the vehicle who couldn’t open the door as he was showing signs of a suspected drug overdose, state police said. They said they had to break a passenger-side window to get in and administer Narcan to the man.

A firefighter became upset by the troopers’ actions, refused orders to leave, then shoved a trooper who tried to escort him from the scene, police said. The firefighter was subdued and briefly handcuffed.

The fire company account states firefighters arrived to find the troopers were “using different methods of passenger compartment access than typically used by fire service personnel as initial best practices.”

A Goodwill lieutenant asked a trooper to stop breaking glass until the vehicle’s occupants could be shielded with blankets. “The PSP trooper responded with a physical push to the…lieutenant and demanded for fire personnel to leave his scene,” company officials said.

They said the lieutenant “defended the push” and was tackled and cuffed by the cops.

Police didn’t interfere as other firefighters and EMTs treated the crash victims, company leaders said. A state police supervisor ordered the release of the lieutenant and no charges were filed, they said.

“Apologies from members of both agencies also occurred on the scene,” company officials said.

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