Okla. paramedic wants trooper’s gun and badge

OKLAHOMA CITY — The paramedic who scuffled with an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper while a patient waited inside the ambulance says the trooper should lose his badge.

Maurice White Jr. said today on the CBS “Early Show” that trooper Daniel Martin was in a state of rage when he stopped his ambulance and totally disregarded the patient’s safety.

Martin stopped the ambulance May 24 for failing to yield.

White says he got out of the ambulance to tell the trooper they were taking a patient to the hospital. The argument quickly escalated into a scuffle and Martin put White in a choke hold.

Martin’s attorney says the trooper either didn’t hear that there was a patient in the ambulance or it didn’t register. He says White failed to comply with the trooper’s orders.