[Vision2020] Moscow fire captain won't face charges

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of today's (March 16, 2012) Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

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Moscow fire captain won't face charges
Moscow Fire Capt. and City Council President Dan Carscallen will not face charges stemming from a Feb. 19 confrontation with a former ambulance volunteer, Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson announced Wednesday.
Thompson and Deputy Prosecutor Mia Vowels each reviewed the Latah County Sheriff's Office investigative report regarding the incident and concluded that criminal charges would not be appropriate.
Former ambulance volunteer Benjamin Dill, 24, told the sheriff's office that Carscallen, 43, had grabbed him by the arm Feb. 19 on the emergency loading dock of Gritman Medical Center.
Carscallen said he confronted Dill because the former volunteer had been riding in an ambulance without department clearance. The ambulance had responded to a medical call at Walmart.
The Latah County Sheriff's Office forwarded the investigative report to Thompson without a recommendation for charges.
On Wednesday, Thompson said Carscallen will not face charges, given the circumstances of the allegation.
"Mr. Carscallen, in his position of authority and responsibility with the Fire/Ambulance organization, had an arguable duty to inquire as to Mr. Dill's involvement and presence both in the EMS vehicle, on the EMS radio and at the hospital emergency bay (which is not a public access)," Thompson wrote in a prepared statement.
He also said that none of the witnesses who were in the immediate vicinity of the incident described observing any physical confrontation or violent interaction between the two men.
"Although we believe that some degree of physical contact occurred (whether it was merely the touching of Mr. Dill's clothing, or as Mr. Dill relates, the actual touching of his arm through the clothing), we do not believe that this rises to the level that would justify the pursuit of criminal charges," Thompson said.
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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"If not us, who?
If not now, when?"

- Unknown


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