ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

GREG ABBOTT 

May 5, 2011 

The Honorable R. Lowell Thompson 

Navarro County Criminal District Attorney 

300 West 3rd Avenue, Suite 203 

Corsicana, Texas 75110 

Dear Mr. Thompson: 

Opinion No. GA-0859 

Re: Whether a sheriff or a fire department is 

responsible for determining where to land a 

helicopter during the investigation of a traffic 

accident (RQ-0932-GA) 

You inform us that a Navarro County Sheriff's deputy and the Navarro Mills Volunteer Fire 

Department were dispatched to a serious motor vehicle accident. 1 At the scene, the fire chief and 

sheriff's deputy disagreed over who could choose the landing site for a helicopter to take an accident 

victim to the hospital. Request Letter at2. You write that the "deputy was of the opinion that he had 

command decision authority due to the traffic accident scene" and the "chief asserted he had 

command based on his experience and the need to transport the patients to the hospital via 

helicopter." Id. Accordingly, you ask, "who has command authority of a traffic accident scene? 

Specifically does the fire department or the sheriff's office have final say on where to land a 

helicopter?" [d. at 1. 

As you note, some Texas laws authorize a sheriff's deputy to investigate certain motor 

vehicle accidents. [d. at 3 n.l (citing articles 2.17 and 2.20 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 

providing respectively that a sheriff's deputy is "a conservator of the peace in his county" and a duty 

imposed by this Code upon the sheriff may lawfully be performed by his deputy; and citing section 

550.041(a) of the Transportation Code, providing that a peace officer may investigate certain kinds 

of traffic accidents). Other laws authorize a fire department to provide fire protection and emergency 

medical services. See, e.g., TEX. Loc. GOV'T CODE ANN. § 352.001 (c) (West 2005) (authorizing a 

commissioners court to contract with a volunteer fire department to provide fire protection for areas 

outside a municipality). See also, e.g., TEX. HEALTH & SAFETY CODE ANN. § 773.012(b)(8) (West 

2010) (indicating that fire departments might provide emergency medical services). Thus, Texas 

statutes establish that law enforcement agencies and fire departments have different but related 

spheres of legal authority on matters relating to motor vehicle accidents. 

lLetter from Honorable R. Lowell Thompson, Navarro County Criminal District Attorney, to Honorable Greg 

Abbott, Attorney General of Texas at 2 (Nov. \7,2011), https://www.oag.state.tx.us/opinlindex_rq.shttnl ("Request 

Letter"). 
The Honorable R. Lowell Thompson - Page 2 (GA-0859) 

However, no Texas statute, judicial opinion, or regulation establishes whether a fire or 

sheriff's department would have "command decision authority" or "final say on where to land a 

helicopter" at a motor vehicle accident site. Instead, federal regulations establish that the pilot in 

command of a helicopter is "directly responsible for, and is the final authority as to, the operation 

of that aircraft." FAA General Operating and Flight Rules, 14 c.F.R. § 91.3(a) (2011).2 

2Consistent with this -federal requirement, state regulations provide that "[p ]ersons or entities operating rotary 

wing air ambulances must direct and control the integrated activities of both the medical and aviation components." 25 

TEx. ADMIN. CODE § 157.12(a) (2011) (Tex. Dep't of State Health Services, Rotor-Wing Air Ambulance Operaiions). 

Although the pilot of a helicopter is responsible for its operation, "typically the organization in charge of the medical 

functions directs the combined efforts of the aviation and medical components during patient transport operations." !d. 

The entity operating the helicopter and the organization in charge of the medical functions will vary from jurisdiction 

to jurisdiction within the state. See generally TEx. HEALTH & SAFETY CODE ANN. §§ 775.021-.026 (West 2010) 

(providing requirements for the creation of emergency service districts in and among counties and municipalities). 
The Honorable R. Lowell Thompson - Page 3 (GA-0859) 

SUMMARY 

The helicopter pilot rather than a fire department or sheriff's 

office has the final say on where to land a helicopter for the purpose 

of transporting patients from a motor vehicle accident. 

DANIEL T. HODGE 

First. Assistant Attorney General 

DAVID J. SCHENCK 

Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel 

JASON BOATRIGHT 

Chair, Opinion Committee 

Jason Boatright 

Very truly yours, 

Assistant Attorney General, Opinion Committee