Dept Of Probation To Make Man Homeless Over Dismissed Charge

The following was submitted by a viewer who wishes to remain anonymous, for fear of retribution:

I have been struggling with homelessness for the past several months. I was once a middle-class citizen, who was born and raised here in Dutchess county. My family roots go back to the first Dutch settlers in the 1600's, in fact. Yet I can't even afford a rental on the long road that was once the long driveway of my old "Van" ancestors. The reasons for my homelessness is a storied tale, that doesn't happen all at once, and might be left to another article. But today's submission, is about how I am being made homeless yet again, by an indirect order from a public agency.

A few months ago, I was literally living on the streets for a time. An old friend from high school had the heart to take me in, and rent a space to me in her basement for the small pittance that I get for housing from an emergency benefit from New York State. (What "welfare" gives you is $216 a month. Good luck finding a rental for that much.) Sadly, not a month had gone by, and some family court issue on her end, left me homeless yet again.

A few days passed, and another friend of mine from my old high school days told me that he had an spare room. He basically used it as a slop den for his pets. I was not at all picky, and moved in with the agreement that I would pay him all of my housing benefit amount, plus another hundred dollars. I bought a mop and bucket, and turned the kennel room into a liveable space.

There was a catch though. My friend is on misdemeanor probation. So before I moved in, I asked him to clear this with his probation officer. The PO told him that since I am not a felon, not on probation or parole, and since I have no open cases pending, that he could not "violate" him on the terms of his probation. I moved in the next day.

I have since shifted over my legal address to the new residence, and I claim a housing benefit from social services in order to make partial payment for the room as well as access to the kitchen and bathroom. I make up the difference by spending my cash allotment for things like transportation and laundry, on rent to my roomate. These services are meant to get me back on my feet, and I am doing my best to do that.

Unfortunately, the probation department doesn't see it that way. Since I have moved in, the department of probation has threatened to violate my roommate/landlord, for renting a room to me. I have called his PO several times, but he didn't return any of my calls until today. Essentially he told me that "P*****k knows what he has to do" and would not give me any reason why I should be evicted, citing confidentiality. However, confidentiality did not prevent them from showing images of myself as well as my arrest record on unfounded charges, in order to establish defamatory statements against me by the agent, as well as his supervisor. 

Now just to be clear here. I am not a felon, I am not on probation or parole, I have no open cases pending. Admittedly though, I do have an arrest in the last year, for which the charge was dismissed in a local town court.

The question then becomes, can the department of probation make me homeless once again, because I was arrested on a charge that was dismissed? Can they send a man to jail, at huge taxpayer cost, two months before his probation is finished, for renting a room to a man who was once a first-responder and a state-licensed officer, but happened to have a misunderstanding with the judicial system?

EMT Provides Statement to HVWire Amid National Scandal

You may remember the recent story of the Ellenville, NY EMT who was supposedly "fired for saving a little girl's life." In truth, he was not actually fired, but suspended, and chose to resign from the EMS squad with whom he had been serving at the time of the incident in question. The details of the event are hotly debated.

He contacted our page tonight, and we agreed to publish his statement on the matter. This is the PM we received from him tonight:

Stephen Sawyer

• Dec 28, 2013
  
  Ok well here is my only input on this entire incident. After this it’s OVER. There is a problem with staffing the END.
  
  The day of the call, I was provided information which played a major factor of how I made my decisions.
  
  A call was dispatched, a paramedic was responding to and shortly after a second call which was a critical call as well was dispatched. A total of 3 members were at the station. 1 being a driver and 2 EMTs. I (1 of the EMTs) was advised by a member that another driver was en route to the station to drive. Prior to any units responding, discussion with the members made sense that the first patient was going to receive care at an advanced life support level shortly however, the second critical patient has not been seen yet, so the EMT and driver responded to the second call since from information provided reported that another driver was close by. To me both patients got quick medical care. Unfortunately due to being provide with the wrong information there was actually no driver coming. After exhausting all of my options I did what I do anytime I WORK as an EMT and drove the ambulance. Yes I knew for a fact the second I got in the rig that I was about to break rules. I responded to the call myself (after approximately 15 mins) and transported the patient with the paramedic. The second ambulance was still tied up being within eyes view of the nearest hospital. The paramedic and I did exactly what we do when we work for a commercial agency and transported the patient. The ambulance was returned without any issues and that was the end of the call.
  
  People may have made different decisions that day however, due to the information provided to me that’s what I did and I don’t really care what you would have done because there is no changing it. BOTH critical patients received immediate medical attention. If the patient from the second call didn’t have an ambulance right away that patient would have suffered just as long.
  Long story short everyone, Ellenville Rescue has members that are properly trained and work as EMTs for commercial services. I am not the only one who works as an EMT that isn’t 21 yet! During the day as many in this area know staffing is an issue. FIX THE ISSUE! No patient should have to suffer longer because of people not preparing for it. There are many ways of fixing the problem.
  
  1) Pay an EMT during the day to ride in an ambulance with the paramedic. We already pay paramedics which was a start of fixing the problem.
  2) Modify the policy so that people who drive hundreds of miles in an ambulance at their job can drive as a volunteer and help the patient quicker regardless of age.
  3) Contract an agency to provided EMTs 3-5 days a week during the day. This is starting to happen in the county.
  
  These are just thoughts in fixing the problem. We are all volunteer. Every fire department and rescue squad in this area is run by volunteers who are the real heroes. They put in their own time, use their own fuel, spend their own money in buying extra gear that may keep them safer, and leave their families to respond to calls at all hours of the day and night. I did simply what any person would have done. Both patients got the attention and we all went home safe.

EMT Broke Rules to Make Emergency Transport, Suspended and Resigns

This story does not appear to be entirely accurate or thoroughly investigated, but we can still see the core element of what happened. A 20-year old volunteer who was not authorized to drive the ambulance for the squad, chose to drive the ambulance anyway, because no other transport was immediately available for a child having a seizure. What say ye on this issue Hudson Valley? Life-saver, rule-breaker, or both?

Ellenville EMT breaks rules to help 4-year-old | recordonline.com

www.recordonline.com

ELLENVILLE — The resignation of an Ellenville First Aid and Rescue Squad volunteer who admits breaking rules to transport a sick child to the hospital has caused an outcry in the community.

EDIT to add additional source:

The following article seems to give more insight into the issue.

Ellenville EMT who was suspended had previous violations, squad captain says

EXCERPT:

Sawyer, despite not being authorized to make decisions about which calls should take priority, told the other EMT and the driver to answer the second call, according to Gavaris. He said Sawyer, who is one year too young to drive the volunteer squad’s ambulance but does drive a smaller ambulance for a paid service, should not have instructed the other squad members to answer that call.