California Highway Patrol Handcuffs Another Firefighter Doing His Job

Two people were transported to the hospital after a car struck a construction barrier on northbound Interstate 805 in Chula Vista, and amid all of the chaos a responding firefighter was detained by a California Highway Patrol officer. According to the Chula Vista Fire Department, the CHP responded along with three fire rigs -- two from Chula Vista and one from San Diego. For the most part, the agencies seem to work together seamlessly.

However, that came into question when CVFD engineer Jacob Gregoire went from helping people trapped in a car to watching from the back seat of a patrol car. Chula Vista Fire Dept. Chief Dave Hanneman seemed to stand behind the firefighter, saying, "Last night, I got the call that we had one of our engineers detained, and I was upset … Obviously it's in the best interest of CHP and us to work together to help patients and having one of our engineers detained in the back of a squad car is not helpful to anybody." Hanneman said a CHP officer ordered the rigs to leave, and two of them did.

CHP did not comment except to say they were looking into the incident and meeting with the fire departments.

Late Wednesday afternoon, Hanneman and CHP Chief Jim Abele issued the following statement:

"Last night there was an unfortunate incident at the scene of a traffic collision on I-805, where both our agencies had responded. Both the CHP and the Chula Vista Fire Department share a common goal of protecting the public and providing the highest level of safety to responding emergency personnel, involved parties and other drivers at collision scenes.