EJ MONTINI

Punished (too little) for failing at impossible job

EJ Montini
opinion columnist
City of Glendale fire truck.

We ask too much of police and firefighters, as we should. As we must.

They take the jobs knowing that we ask too much of them, and that we'll criticize them, even punish them, when they fail to do what is sometimes impossible to accomplish.

That's just the way it is.

Two Glendale firefighters were caught in a no-win situation last year. A hopeless, unworkable situation. They were part of a crew called to the home of a man who was having medical trouble, needed help, but was determined to fight with the emergency personnel who'd come to help him.

As 30-year-old James Murillo was being wheeled from his home on a gurney, reports later said that he "threw a back-handed punch and 'cold-cocked'" Capt. Sean Alford, and that he battled as well with and firefighter Danny Padilla.

In response, the firefighters did something most other guys would have done, but isn't acceptable for a firefighter.

They cursed and fought back.

Murillo was punched several times. His father also got into the fray.

An internal investigation later determined that the firefighters used excessive force and violated city and department policies.

A cellphone video of the incident was posted to YouTube and got lots of attention.

Now, Glendale Fire Chief Mark Burdick says that Alford will be suspended without pay for two days and Padilla for one day.

I understand the instinct to react with violence to violence, particularly when it comes from someone you're trying to help.

But several punches to a man's face deserves more than a slap on the wrist. That's what this seems like.

First responders are paid to be better than the rest of us, to do things the rest of us would never do, to take risks that we would never take and to react in ways that we would not react.

It's an unreasonable and sometimes unachievable occupation. Likewise, it sometimes seems unreasonable to punish them for failing at it.

But we should. We must.

That's just the way it is.

And several punches to a man's face deserves more than a slap on the wrist.