By Tad Sooter
The Kitsap Sun
KINGSTON, Wash. — The state has suspended the credential of a former North Kitsap Fire and Rescue EMT who drove recklessly while transporting a patient who’d suffered a possible stroke.
According to a Department of Health order, EMT Glen N. Rotsten was transporting the patient in an ambulance on Jan. 28, 2015, when another driver abruptly cut into the lane in front of the emergency vehicle. “Frustrated,” the order alleges that Rotsten began to follow and tailgate the other vehicle, while “improperly using the emergency overhead lights.”
The Department of Health concluded Rotsten’s actions created an unsafe situation and delayed treatment of the patient, “prompt delivery of which is especially important in stroke cases.”
The department issued a statement of charges against Rotsten in May 2016. Rotsten did not respond. The department indefinitely suspended Rotsten’s license on June 23.
North Kitsap Fire & Rescue Assistant Chief Rick LaGrandeur said Rotsten’s employment with the agency ended in March. LaGrandeur declined to discuss details of the reckless driving incident or the circumstances of Rotsten’s departure from the agency, citing a non-disclosure agreement North Kitsap Fire & rescue entered into with Rotsten at the end of his employment. Rotsten joined the agency in 1994, LaGrandeur said.
Additional details from the case were not immediately available from the Department of Health.
Copyright 2016 the KitsapSun