Retired fire chief rescued woman from car crash — then he was arrested

A retired Georgia fire chief was arrested for failing to remove his car while he rescued a woman from a crash, according to a traffic incident report from the Georgia State Patrol.

Former Griffin fire battalion chief Emory Leroy Rickerson parked his Toyota Tundra on the westbound shoulder of Ga. 109 in Pike County on Oct. 10 and rushed to aid a woman whose car crashed and ran off the road, according to the report.

The woman was found slumped over and not breathing, so Rickerson moved her across the two front seats and rendered aid, according to the report.

Thanks in part to Rickerson, the injured woman is alive and is at a rehabilitation center in McDonough, Channel 2 Action News reported. She has a broken arm and still cannot move her legs.

But the lifesaving event ended with Rickerson’s arrest.

As emergency services arrived on the scene, Rickerson was asked to move his truck so that personnel could assist with the woman’s injuries.

But Rickerson refused three times, Sgt. R.S. Jeter noted in the report, even going as far as telling the trooper: “I don’t care who you are. You can take me to jail, but I’m not moving my vehicle or leaving this patient right now.”

Rickerson told Channel 2 another bystander moved his truck for him as he rendered aid.

But that wasn’t the end of the situation.

Jeter said when he tried to reason with Rickerson again, he became “belligerent and kept talking over” the trooper.

Rickerson was arrested for obstruction of an officer “due to the fact that he consistently refused to remove his car from the roadway,” Jeter noted in his report.

Rickerson, who has since bonded out of the Pike County jail, told Channel 2 he is fighting the charges and doesn’t regret what he did.

“If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change anything,” he said. “I would still take care of that patient.”

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