Idiot Protestors Snarl Traffic_Ambulance diverted

A. I'm against protests blocking ambulances. I suppose that with a massive protest that it could be hard to keep a free lane space for them. But - if it was that massive, ambulances would know it was going on. I haven't been to a large protest myself, to know how the police and ambulance vehicles have things set up. I've been in smaller ones.

B. Long live our freedom to protest. I think some of them have changed hearts and minds over the years - besides expressing solidarity of opinion. Protesting is not idiotic. Blocking an ambulance is.

Well they did know - but as a result they had to go to local hospital rather than Boston Medical where they bring serious car accident victims. Huge difference going to a small community hospital and a large hospital.

The gentleman had just been in a car accident and had to be extricated from the vehicle. Obviously, if they were going to the (Boston Medical Center), they must have had some significant injuries,” Partridge said. “They were heading to Boston Medical Center and when they were notified that the highway was shut down they were diverted to Good Samaritan (in Brockton).”
“Due to protesters shutting down I-93, Easton’s Ambulance 1 had to divert from a local Level 1 trauma center to a local hospital,” the message read. “They were the unable to get into Boston in a reasonable transport time, affecting the patient’s ability to get to the proper hospital for treatment.”

That was exactly my point -- these were idiot protestors -- blocking a major thorough way could have cost this man his life.

Protesting where you are blocking traffic is a safety issue.

I was listening to the radio at the time and different people being impacted were calling in -- one man was scheduled to go to court for custody of his child... huge impact as he wasn't going to make it in time.

Another black man called in and said it bothers him these white college students are protesting. He said it makes him (being black) look like an idiot.

Of course it is. I also wonder from afar that if they were blocking access, why police weren't unblocking it - before the ambulance showed up. But I don't know how the police departments deal with that, procedurally.

don't they use air ambulance in critical cases?

The police did remove them -- but it took time - they were locked onto barrels filled with cemet so it wasn't an easy quick removal.

The problem with the ambulance is even if they opened one lane -- think of the cars piled up how would the ambulance get through the pile up of cars blocking all lanes and not being able to move any where?

Often times it is quicker to drive depending on the location -- it may be difficult for the helicopter to land depending where the accident is -- there is a landing pad near the hospital as I have driven by it -- but often times as they have to transport some one by ambulance to the helicopter if they helicopter cannot land right by the accident.

And where the accident occurred was about 30 miles to the hospital...my guess is from what read - is they didn't know how serious the man was injured but having to be extricated and due to his age, they were going to take precautions and bring him to best hospital for the situation. My niece when she was hit by car, could have been brought to a closer community hospital, but they brought her to a children's hospital that was 30 miles or more away for precaution purposes -- she went by ambulance as well not helicopter so I don't think helicopters are used that much as protrayed on TV.

Proof they are idiots...

"Leary, the protest spokeswoman, said the group arrived around 7:20 a.m. Six of them attached themselves to four drums filled with concrete, each weighing 1,200 pounds. Leary said the protesters stuck their arms in the barrels and had concrete poured over them."

Like to see them get their arms out. The police should have just moved them to the side of the road with their arms stuck in the concrete and let them find a way out of the situation.

(spoiler alert)
That's a takeoff on a book by T. Coraghessan Boyle, Friend of the Earth, copyright 2000. Or, that was the first I'd heard of the practice. In his book, it didn't work out for the protesters either.

Maybe it's a Canajun big city thing. I see the helicopters landing at the trauma and paediatric hospitals regularly.

I think they should move the hospitals out of the downtown but that's got it's own complications.

It's stupid in my hometown. The helicopter landing pad is across the street from the hospital, so they have load people onto ambulances to cross the street as traffic got heavy over the years. When I was a teen, they used to just roll the helicopter stretchers across the street and up the emergency ramp.

If every protester gave the benefit of the doubt to not protesting if it MIGHT interfere with traffic of any sort...

...there would never be any protesting.

I doubt the protesters intentionally meant for the ambulance to be diverted. It happened...and it was an unfortunate happening.

But protests will happen...and unintended disruptions will happen also.

The world will not come to an end...nor will the Earth stop spinning on its axis.

They are not idiots...they are people willing to take the time and effort to stand up for something they feel strongly about.

This was not a good protest - this was an idiotic protest. They were not marching or walking or whatever on a city street or other thoroughway where people are walking.

It was on a major highway going into the city - the total protest was to stop traffic from entering the city. It is illegal to walk on the highway. What they were doing was illegal.

Read the actual words of the protestors. It was to prevent white commuters to commute into Boston.

"Today, our nonviolent direct action is meant to expose the reality that Boston is a city where white commuters and students use the city and leave, while black and brown communities are targeted by police, exploited, and displaced," protester Katie Seitz said in a statement.

They are idiots and racists if they think only whites commute to work.



Unfortunate -- just tell that to a loved one of the seriously injured party being brought to the hospital.

They are idiots to think that blocking an entire highway would not potentially cause an ambulance or other emergency vehicle from getting past. Before this even happened - someone on the radio said I will be pissed if someone dies trying to get to the hospital.

The poor police have to deal with idiots like this. I am all for supporting a peaceful protest, but not one with causes safety issues.

You really should read the article rather than make blanket statements thinking - it MIGHT interfere with traffic - it was made to stop traffic on a major highway.

"Boston Mayor Martin Walsh said the protests put the public, emergency personnel, and the demonstrators themselves in danger.

"There are ways to demonstrate in a peaceful manner," Walsh said."


"Gov. Charlie Baker said in a statement issued by a spokeswoman that "endangering drivers and impeding access to medical facilities" was not the best way to protest."

But then Frank you must know more than our Mayor and Governor about safety and what is a responsible protest.

And if you need to see how bad it gets when you stop traffic on a major highway such as this -- it caused issues with many ambulances and the fact that even an alternative trauma 1 center could not be accessed.

“He had some significant injuries, and the paramedics determined it would have been in his best interest to get directly to a Level 1 trauma center,’’ Partridge said in a telephone interview. “They were transporting him to Boston Medical Center when they diverted. That’s where he should have gone. But because of protesters shutting down the highway, they took him’’ to the Good Samaritan Stewart Medical Center in Brockton.

the Brockton hospital did not have a Level 1 trauma care center. He said South Shore Hospital in Weymouth does have a trauma center, but traffic was backed up to Route 24 in Brockton, snarling traffic on side roads, too.

Peter Racicot, senior vice president for Fallon Ambulance, said the delays also had an impact on his private ambulance service.

It took six minutes longer than usual for an emergency patient in Milton to be picked up in that town. The patient was safely transported to BIDMC-Milton Hospital for treatment, he said.

He said Fallon provides emergency service in some communities, but it is also heavily involved in transferring patients from hospitals to home or new treatment facilities.

The shutdown slowed down the company’s presponse across greater Boston Thursday, he said, noting that emergency rooms have a finite number of beds and if a patient is waiting to be taken elsewhere, the hospital has to wait before it can take the next patient.

When the protest had snarled traffic at its worse, Racicot said, the company had 25 ambulances on the road in Greater Boston, and all of them were affected in some way. As the delays dragged on, the number of ambulances affected rose to 100, he said.

“This incident has caused havoc for public safety,’’ Racicot said.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2015/01/15/easton-ambulance-with-injured-driver-diverted-brockton-hospital-due-protestors-fire-chief-says/Uk1ffBGmC5OobFNPXNI6IJ/story.html

I'm more likely to value Frank's opinion on what kind of protest is acceptable than Charlie Baker's or Mitt Romney's. The mayor, meanwhile, may be a Democrat, but all their opinions are politically motivated to a degree whereas Frank's is heartfelt.

A politician's definiton of an idiotic protest is anything that a majority of his constituents disagree with, and the tabloid Boston Herald's definition of an idiotic protest is anything that goes against GOP orthodoxy.

Thank you, Kolyo.

These people were not idiots.

What happened was unfortunate. But they are protesting matters that are every bit as unfortunate.

I am sure many of them feel badly that things went the way they did...but there are wrongs that must be righted...and bad things ARE going to happen on that path.

OK so you feel it is a good protest to block a major highway going into the city and causing emergency vehicles to be delayed as a result?

I did not include Mitt Romney's opinion as he is not governor or mayor.

Do you value the ambulance representative's opinion? The fire chief or the police chief? All stated similar. Or is Frank's opinion higher than any representative that deals daily with the public's safety?

And I quoted from the Globe (known to be more liberal leaning than the Herald) - not from the Herald. Please go read the links from the Boston Globe.

That said, if they expect to continue their civil disobedience and not get sent to jail, they aren't exactly the brightest bulbs either.

Protesting is not for the faint of heart, and the old school Civil Rights protestors were fully prepared to go to jail for their actions.

He's a former governor of your state, and if you contend Frank should defer to someone just because that person's the Governor of Massachusetts, your argument should apply retroactively to everything Romney said when governor as well.

Your original link was to the Herald, which was I mentioned it.