By O’Ryan Johnson
Boston Herald
BOSTON — A battle is brewing between police brass and the head of Boston EMS after a deputy police superintendent handcuffed an EMS dispatcher moments after he directed an ambulance to a wounded man in South Boston, claiming he violated a restraining order in the process.
“The EMT was operating in his job as a dispatcher when the incident happened,’' said Boston EMS Chief Richard Serino in a statement. “The EMT’s actions were reviewed by several members of the department and it was felt that they were appropriate.’'
Police and EMS sources said BPD Superintendent Daniel Linskey and Deputy Superintendent Kelly McCormick, who is in charge of homeland security, were more concerned about politics than crime, since the alleged victim is a police dispatcher and a niece of BPD Superintendent in Chief Robert Dunford.
“There was a citizen in need, and the only line of communication was through the computer terminal. It’s his duty to find out where this individual was,’' said Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association/EMS Division president Jamie Orsino.
Linskey said he was concerned about the safety of a department employee.
“I don’t care whose niece it is,’' he said. “My reading of that order, it was a violation. She’s on that channel every day. I don’t know if he was sending a message to her to say, `I’ll let you know I’m here.’ ''
The estranged couple have worked together in Boston police headquarters on the same floor, but in different rooms, for the past eight years, police said. She has a permanent restraining order against him.
On Feb. 10, the EMT sent an internal computer message to police, in an attempt to help EMTs locate a reported victim. About 30 minutes later when the 911 dispatcher realized who sent the message, the EMT was pulled out of the room where he was handcuffed and taken to the Roxbury precinct. He was eventually released without being charged. He was later summoned to appear for a violation of a restraining order.