A Montecito battalion chief was handcuffed by a California Highway Patrol officer after refusing to move a fire truck, which was blocking a highway in order to protect crews responding to a crash on Feb. 15, according to the Santa Barbara News-Press.
After the CHP supervisor arrived on scene, the detained battalion was released and no charges were filed.
Both agencies are currently investigated the incident, the report said.
"For a member of another agency to get detained and placed in handcuffs is highly unusual, rare, regrettable and frankly, caused embarrassment to both departments," CHP Capt. Jeff Sgobba told the News-Press.
The fire truck arrived on scene at approximately 3 p.m. and was positioned to block the fast lane during the response to the minor-injury collision, which is part of the department's standard operating procedures.
Montecito Fire Chief Kevin Wallace was unable to respond to the scene in his personal vehicle because of traffic, but he said the situation was quickly resolved.
"We want to make sure that the good relationship that we've had is not deteriorated by this single incident," he told the newspaper.
