Opinion ID: 2553499
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Personal Errand.

Text: Jahr worked as an Ambulance Crew Member-Aide paramedic and was assigned to an Advanced Life Support ambulance, Medic Number 18, which provides emergency medical care to injured persons in the District of Columbia. Jahr's responsibilities included administering complex medication and performing advanced emergency medical procedures. At approximately 4:10 p.m., on January 1, 1999, Jahr and his partner, Robert Aronson, were dispatched to a motor vehicle accident. As the Ambulance Crew Member-In-Charge, Aronson was the driver of the ambulance. Around 4:16 p.m., the medic unit reported by radio to the Department's Communication Division that it had arrived at the scene of the accident. At 4:36 p.m., the unit reported that it had successfully transported the accident victim to the Washington Hospital Center (WHC). Pursuant to Department policy, all units are to immediately return to their respective quarters by the most direct route as soon as they have cleared their assigned response. Notwithstanding this policy, once finished at the hospital, Aronson indicated to Jahr that he needed to fill a personal prescription at a pharmacy. The ambulance proceeded to the Target Store located at the Potomac Yards Shopping Center in Alexandria, Virginia. At 5:25 p.m., while Jahr and his partner were in the Target Store, the ambulance was spotted in the shopping center parking lot by a former employee of the Department who reported the ambulance's location to Lieutenant John Clayton. At 5:30 p.m., the Department made efforts to locate the ambulance. EMS shift commander, Captain Jerome Stack, contacted the WHC Emergency Department to verify the location of Medic 18. The WHC emergency medical representative responded that Medic 18 was not at WHC. Captain Stack then sent a Lieutenant to WHC, who searched the premises but could not find the ambulance. All attempts to contact Medic 18 through radio proved unsuccessful at that time. At 5:41 p.m., Jahr contacted the Department's Communications Division to request additional time to retrieve Medic 18's clipboard, which he stated was left at WHC. [1] When asked his current location, Jahr stated, We are located at the Washington Hospital Center. When told that the ambulance was not at WHC, and that a Lieutenant was at the site looking for Medic 18, Jahr insisted that the unit was at the hospital complex. An additional search at WHC found no sign of the ambulance. Jahr later admitted that he was in Alexandria, Virginia with Aronson running a personal errand at the time that the former employee reported seeing Medic 18 at the Target store. As a result of this incident, Jahr was officially terminated on May 7, 1999, for dishonesty and inexcusable neglect of duty. [2] This was Jahr's second instance of dishonesty. [3]