Future Uncertain for Ky. Responder Involved in Road Rage

GLASGOW – The board of directors for Barren-Metcalfe County Emergency Medical Services decided Wednesday afternoon to leave a final disciplinary decision for an employee involved in a “road rage” incident to the discretion of management.

Chairman Howard Garrett announced that vote after a closed session of more than an hour at a special meeting convened specifically to discuss a personnel matter.

Jonathan Hughes, an emergency medical technician for the ambulance service, was one of two individuals involved in the situation that culminated with firearms being pulled at the service’s substation at Airport Road, which leads into the Glasgow Municipal Airport, on April 24. He has been on a paid administrative leave pending this board meeting and/or a final decision, said Tim Gibson, assistant director of the service. The meeting for the full board, at which seven of 10 members were present, came after the personnel committee of the board met last week.

After today’s meeting, Director Mike Swift said he wanted to discuss the issue a little more with Gibson first, but he had an inclination as to what he was going to do. He declined to disclose what that was until he had a chance to talk with Hughes, who was not at the meeting.

“I think the other party was just as guilty as Jonathan … ,” Swift said, “but it should never have come to that. That’s the bottom line. The main thing is, somebody could have actually been killed.”

Another issue that arose from the incident is that it came to the service’s attention that the airport board’s policy is that firearms are not allowed anywhere on that property.

State law says employers cannot prohibit employees from carrying firearms, Swift said, but he has asked that they keep them concealed, provided they have the proper permit, of course. He understands why some may want to have one available, he said. If a particular location prohibits the presence of firearms, though, they would be expected to abide by that rule.

Swift and Gibson said they were both unaware of an airport policy, even though the substation has been there several years, so they would not have expected the employees to necessarily know that, either.

According to a Glasgow Police Department report, Hughes, 29, of Glasgow, and another vehicle had been traveling east on Ky. 90 when the incident began.

Officer Tammy Britt said no firearms were visible at the time she arrived, and Hughes “immediately volunteered his firearm where it could be secured.”

Hughes said he got behind a car that was traveling slow and he did “‘ride their bumper’ for a bit because they were going too slow,” Britt’s report says. As Hughes attempted to pass the Nissan passenger car in which it was later determined that Roger D. Nelson, 29, was a passenger, and his father, David Nelson, 54, both of the same address in Bonnieville, was the driver, the speed of the Nissan increased. Hughes was prevented from passing then, and he saw a red car coming toward him in oncoming traffic and had to go into the emergency lane to avoid a collision, the report says.

Hughes said he and the other driver each applied their brakes for a “brake check” when in front of the other, and Nelson passed him again and cut off Hughes from trying to back into a parking space at the EMS station, so Hughes parked in another spot.

He saw David Nelson get out of the car and felt threatened, so he pulled out a Glock and “held it outside his vehicle pointed down to the ground while he was still sitting inside his vehicle,” the report says. “Hughes stated the passenger [Roger Nelson] then pulled out a gun and pointed it at him. Hughes denies the allegation that he ever pointed his Glock at the Nelsons.”

David Nelson said when they were on Ky. 90, a truck operated by a male later identified as Hughes “came up behind them at a high rate of speed and followed extremely close behind them.” He said they were in a slow line of traffic that included a tractor-trailer, a school bus and another car, when Hughes attempted to pass and there was a double yellow line and the approaching red car, according to the report.

David Nelson said his and Hughes’ vehicles passed each other several times during the course of the incident, and Hughes extended his middle finger during one of the passes. He said Hughes got quite a distance ahead of him at one point and had pulled onto the shoulder, but then Hughes pulled back onto the road when the Nelson’s car got close and almost struck it, the report says.

At one point then David Nelson pulled over to allow Hughes to pass because he was following so closely, and it just happened to be at the entrance to the station, which was Hughes’ destination. He figured out that Hughes worked there and went, unarmed, to talk with him about his driving.

David Nelson said Hughes pointed the Glock at him before pointing it toward the ground, and then Roger Nelson pulled gun from his glove box and placed it on the dash to show they also had a firearm, according to the report.

Roger Nelson’s statement backed up what David Nelson said, according to Britt’s report, and he feared for his father’s safety as well as his own when he pulled out the gun. Britt says that at some point before she got there, Roger Nelson had also exited the car but left the firearm in it.

A witness on site, Logan Thomas, told police he had just pulled into the lot when he observed two men outside the car saying they were going to “kick his ass,” referring to Hughes, but as Thomas walked forward, the two men backed away. Thomas is an EMT student doing ridealongs with the service, Gibson said Wednesday evening.

“None of the individuals involved … wished to seek prosecution at this time,” the report says, noting the case status was “closed.”

———

©2015 the Glasgow Daily Times (Glasgow, Ky.)

Visit the Glasgow Daily Times (Glasgow, Ky.) at www.glasgowdailytimes.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.