US Customs delays ambulance at the border

[Dense]

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolo ... ff&k=90110

An ambulance rushing a heart attack victim to Detroit from a Windsor hospital ill-equipped to perform life-saving surgery was stopped for secondary inspection Monday by U.S. Customs, despite the fact it carried a man fighting for his life.

Rick Laporte, 49 -- who twice had been brought back to life with defibrillators -- was being rushed across the border when a U.S. border guard ignored protocol at the Detroit portion of the tunnel and forced the ambulance -- with siren and lights flashing -- to pull over.

"If I'm that person in the booth, and there is an ambulance coming with a critically injured person, I'm not stopping the damn thing," said Kat Lauzon, Laporte's girlfriend. "I'm irate. I can't figure it out. He could have died, and I would have blamed that person for murder."

U.S. Customs officers at the secondary inspection site told the ambulance driver to go inside the office to produce identification, said a frustrated Larry Amlin, of Windsor Essex EMS.

Other guards told the paramedic crew to open the back doors of the ambulance, then asked Laporte to verbally confirm his identify, said Lauzon. She learned afterward of the incident from Laporte, who survived his life-saving emergency angioplasty surgery at Detroit's Henry Ford Hospital.

Laporte, a Canadian Auto Workers Union executive, remained in the cardiac care unit yesterday in serious condition.

"This was a life-saving procedure," Lauzon said yesterday, still furious. "What if it was one of their mothers in the ambulance? Would they pull it in? No damn way."

"This was not normal circumstances," she added. "How many drug dealers do you know that get a police escort in the back of an ambulance to go across the border? What is their damn reason for pulling it in?"

Chief Ron Smith of U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Detroit could not be reached yesterday.

Amlin said the ambulance, according to well-established protocol, received a police escort to the tunnel entrance with several intersections blocked off to help speed the trip. Tunnel traffic was shut down and, after the ambulance arrived at the border crossing, a tunnel company pickup truck with flashing lights, led it to a designated U.S. Customs lane where it was supposed to be waved through.

"We have a system set up. We are to be pre-cleared and no problems," Amlin said.

Last weekend a Quebec fire truck responding to an emergency request for assistance in upstate New York was delayed at the U.S. border despite having lights and sirens activated.

"Current policies and procedures must be immediately reviewed to ensure that first responders on both sides of the border can continue to save lives," said Bennie Thompson, chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security, in Washington yesterday.

[Amarok]

They should get fired without question.

[Fhqwghads]

This is what happens when people with an inflated sense of authority feel the need to compensate for their little penis.

[jmc]

They should get fired without question.

Agreed

Fucker shouldve just drove over the customs agent lol

[Vandole]

They should get fired without question.

Agreed

Fucker shouldve just drove over the customs agent lol

this is true. would have been a win win situation..
-Saved a mans life
-Killed/injured a fucking moron

[Exoduso]

I agree, he should've run him over lol... one less retard in this world would've been nice.

Seriously wtf, whoever that was that decided the ambulance should get pulled over should just get fired on the spot.

[Tricen]

Lame yeah, but I wouldn't doubt drug sellers or escaped convicts stealing ambulances and making a run for the border. Although, it is very unlikely... I think O-o

[Exoduso]

Meh, it's the freaking canadian border for christ sake, not the Mexican one.

[Kerberoz]

Lame yeah, but I wouldn't doubt drug sellers or escaped convicts stealing ambulances and making a run for the border. Although, it is very unlikely... I think O-o

Amlin said the ambulance, according to well-established protocol, received a police escort to the tunnel entrance with several intersections blocked off to help speed the trip. Tunnel traffic was shut down and, after the ambulance arrived at the border crossing, a tunnel company pickup truck with flashing lights, led it to a designated U.S. Customs lane where it was supposed to be waved through.

>.>

[Tricen]

Lame yeah, but I wouldn't doubt drug sellers or escaped convicts stealing ambulances and making a run for the border. Although, it is very unlikely... I think O-o

Amlin said the ambulance, according to well-established protocol, received a police escort to the tunnel entrance with several intersections blocked off to help speed the trip. Tunnel traffic was shut down and, after the ambulance arrived at the border crossing, a tunnel company pickup truck with flashing lights, led it to a designated U.S. Customs lane where it was supposed to be waved through.

>.>

Oh , woops. lol. How can you look at yourself in a mirror after you do something like that.

[archibaldcrane]

Last weekend a Quebec fire truck responding to an emergency request for assistance in upstate New York...

Wow, I didn't know they did that - I guess Canada is "little america" after all.

[Khamsin]

Last weekend a Quebec fire truck responding to an emergency request for assistance in upstate New York...

Wow, I didn't know they did that - I guess Canada is "little america" after all.

Since upstate New York would never send a fire truck to Quebec.