Director of the Eric Ambulances Eric Javois said that two of his staff were on their way to the Grand Case Airport around midday on Wednesday 4th May to pick up a heart patient when an unmarked car tried to block the ambulance twice. Javois said his workers were working at the time and they were in an ambulance with their siren on when the unmarked vehicle blocked their way. "To make matters worse the occupants in the tinted vehicle doubled the ambulance on La Savanne main road and blocked their way. The driver of the ambulance Benett Hunt managed to maneuver the ambulance to avoid hitting the car. When they came to a stop two men approached them with guns in their face telling them they were abusing the use of the siren on the ambulance," Javois said. Javois said he intends to file an official complaint with the Gendarmerie because his workers are emergency workers who were performing their duties. "My men were not stealing neither were they selling drugs so I need to know why the OCRTIS men stopped them."
Benett Hunt said he was the driver of the ambulance and his assistant was Dominique Fleming. Hunt said they received an emergency call and was responding to the call when the incident occurred. Hunt said while on Mount Valois Hill he tried to signal the driver of the unmarked car that he wanted to pass but the driver he said made no effort to pull aside. Hunt said he managed to overtake the car but the driver of the car began following him and when he reached La Savanne, the driver overtook him and blocked the road. "I had to maneuver the ambulance and bring it to a stop at the side of the car that was in the middle of the road. When I came to a stop, two men jumped out of the car and only then they showed me their badge telling me they are police. They came to me with guns in my face. At that point, an argument started because the two cops could not tell me why they stopped me and what I did wrong. One of them said I was abusing my rights as the driver of the ambulance when I put on my siren, but he does not know where I was going and why I had to use my siren. The plane that transported the patient to St. Martin came in without warning and I received an emergency call to transport a heart patient to the heart specialist," Hunt said. Hunt said the incident cost him about 45 minutes since the two officers and him were engaged in an argument. He said the gendarmes responded to the scene to calm the situation before they could have proceeded to pick up the patient. "All I want to know is what I did wrong and why they stopped me, I also want to know how I should know that they are police officers driving around in tinted cars and why they pulled guns on us," Hunt said.
