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Police Fire Wars – International Edition: South Africa

The facts are not all in, but it appears we have another instance of police fire wars, this time in South Africa. Dave Statter is on this so there’s no need to repeat it all here – but what we know is:

Paramedic Garth Andrew Van Zyl was arrested at the scene of a vehicle accident on Tuesday following a confrontation with police officers. Van Zyl was apparently questioning why one officer was refusing to address traffic control and the officer replied “you don’t come here and tell me what to do” and “this is my scene and you don’t belong here, I give the orders here”.

It went downhill from there….. Sounds SOOOoooooo familiar….

Curt Varone

Curt Varone has over 50 years of fire service experience and 40 as a practicing attorney licensed in both Rhode Island and Maine. His background includes 29 years as a career firefighter in Providence (retiring as a Deputy Assistant Chief), as well as volunteer and paid on call experience. Besides his law degree, he has a MS in Forensic Psychology. He is the author of two books: Legal Considerations for Fire and Emergency Services, (2006, 2nd ed. 2011, 3rd ed. 2014, 4th ed. 2022) and Fire Officer's Legal Handbook (2007), and is a contributing editor for Firehouse Magazine writing the Fire Law column.

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