Veteran Arizona Firefighter Refuses to Respond to Giffords Shooting Tragedy

So what is it that this 28-year veteran objected to? Can't quite figure out what Ekstrum had an issue with. What did Ekstrum mean by "political bantering"? Why did he suddenly retire? We can speculate all we want but refusing to carry out your emergency duties in a crisis like this shooting is just reprehensible and beyond all reason. I've stopped short of accusing Ekstrum of being a Right wing ideologue but after 28 years, you have to wonder why this situation put his behavior over the line. Maybe there is more to this story or maybe there isn't but I'm sure the Right wingers and those on the other side will take their usual positions. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt until, and if, I learn otherwise.

Memos: Firefighter refused call to Tucson shooting
TUCSON, Ariz.

A veteran firefighter refused to respond to last month's deadly shooting spree that left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords wounded because of "political bantering," and it may have delayed his unit's assignment to help, according to internal city memos.
The Arizona Daily Star reported Thursday that firefighter Mark Ekstrum's team, which is specially trained to handle large medical emergencies, was dispatched to assist 90 minutes after the Jan. 8 shooting. The newspaper obtained the memos about the incident through a public records request.
While the crew was not among those first called to the supermarket where six people were killed and 13 others wounded, a memo from Ekstrum's supervisor said his actions caused "confusion and delay" during the emergency.
One of the fire engines from Ekstrum's station had to stop at another station to pick up personnel to take his place, according to the Star.
Ekstrum, a 28-year veteran of the Tucson Fire Department, retired two days after the incident while his supervisors were still considering how to discipline him.
Capt. Ben Williams wrote in a report that when Ekstrum first said he would not go on the call, "he mentioned something about `political bantering' and he did not want to be part of it."
Williams said in the report that he told the 56-year-old firefighter that he could not refuse a call for that reason and then talked to the firefighter privately in his office. He said Ekstrum "started to say something about how he had a much different political viewpoint than the rest of the crew and he was concerned."
Despite being told that was not acceptable, Williams said Ekstrum informed him he was going home "sick," so they answered the call without him.
Ekstrum's crew had been dispatched at 12:03 p.m., seven minutes after the last patient arrived at the hospital, said Joe Gulotta, an assistant fire chief. The team was responding as a support crew with a large delivery truck with tents, medical supplies, water and cots used to assist those who were not seriously injured.
Ekstrum declined to comment on the Star's story and refused to elaborate on any details of the memos when reached at his home Thursday by The Associated Press.
"I have nothing else to say about it," Ekstrum said.
But the Star said Ekstrum gave a statement Wednesday to the Fire Department saying he was distraught over the shootings and was "distracted to the point of not being able to perform my routine station duties to such an extent that I seriously doubted my ability to focus on an emergency call."
Ekstrum also said in the statement that he had no problem with Giffords and even voted for her in the last election.

 

There's no telling, really. He might be a conservative, liberal or something else entirely. It's difficult to know what "political bantering" he was speaking about. Since he had no problem with Giffords and even voted for her in the last election, we might speculate that he had a problem with Conservatives or the Right-wing in general, but I'll stop short of accusing him of being a Left-wing advocate or ideologue since we really don't know.

 

I won't bother to post my reactions since you already know it, but please tell me what it is so I will know how to react in the future.

 

I am not going to pass judgement on the guy. There is some contradictory and vague stuff that doesn't make the story really discernible as to what might have really happened or why. I could see it showing up on both Foxnews and Huffington Post so that immediately raises warning flags.

It was time for him not to be a firefighter any more, though, that is pretty obvious to me.