Knox County's prosecutor will ask a judge to dismiss a charge of failure to obey an officer lodged by a sheriff's deputy against the driver of a Rural/Metro fire engine.
"We're going to dismiss it," Knox County District Attorney General Randy Nichols said Friday. "This doesn't need to go any further."
Nichols said he spoke this month to Knox County Sheriff Jimmy "J.J." Jones about the citation issued June 19 to Rural/Metro employee Matthew Clift.
"I said it should be handled appropriately by his office and I would be happy with whatever he decides," Jones said of his discussion with Nichols.
Nichols' response is that his office "is going to concentrate on prosecuting bad guys around here."
"I told him (Jones) I was not interested in prosecuting a firefighter," Nichols said. "I'm not going to waste any taxpayers' money prosecuting this case."
Based on Nichols' decision, Clift, 26, will not have to appear July 26 in General Sessions Court to defend himself against a charge leveled by Knox County sheriff's Deputy Terry Wright.
"I don't recall any case like it," Nichols said of the citation against the firefighter.
Clift was among the emergency personnel sent about 11 a.m. to a crash with injuries in the southbound lanes of Interstate 75, just north of the Emory Road interchange. Clift was acting as a first responder to the scene to provide care for the injured.
Clift situated his firetruck so it was blocking southbound traffic, according to Wright's citation.
"The defendant was asked to move the vehicle so that traffic could resume to travel southbound," Wright wrote in the citation. "The vehicle was causing a traffic hazard for other traffic traveling southbound."
Rural/Metro Chief Jerry Harnish said he requested a meeting with Jones to discuss the issue. He and Clift met for about an hour with Wright, Wright's supervisor and Jones.
Harnish said the meeting revealed that the emergency scene on I-75 was chaotic and embroiled in misunderstanding.
"There was no intent by the firefighter to dispute the order," Harnish said.
Because the crash scene was scattered so far along I-75, Wright didn't understand that Clift was obligated to first tend to the injured before returning to his truck to move it as the deputy ordered.
"That led to the impression that the firefighter was not following the order," Harnish said.
Harnish said Wright's supervisor ordered the deputy to issue the citation. Jones, however, said he was unsure if that was the case.
"In my opinion, on the day the citation was issued, every employee, including the Rural/Metro employee, was doing what they thought was the right thing to do," the sheriff said.
Despite what Jones deemed "a speed bump in our relationship," the sheriff said the citation issue was "an isolated incident" that has not harmed "a great working relationship with Rural/Metro."
Harnish said he is "grateful for the relationship" his agency has with the Sheriff's Office.
"I know there's no intent by the sheriff's department to be overly assertive," Harnish said. "They have the same concerns for public safety as we do. The fear of working a new accident caused by the first one is real.
"We agreed to communicate to both organizations that we all cooperate at the scene," Harnish said of the meeting with the sheriff. "I'm not concerned about a recurrence."
Copyright 2012 - The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Tenn.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
