AUBURN, Maine (CBS Local) — A paramedic in Maine is sharing his video of a car refusing to pull over for an ambulance in hopes it will raise awareness.
The video shows a slow-moving red car refusing to pull over to let the emergency vehicle — with sirens blaring — go by on Route 136 in Auburn last week.
Paramedic Michael Blakemore, who shot the video, says the red car never pulled over for nearly four miles.
“We kept chasing him all the way until we hit our road and turned right,” he told WCSH.
WATCH: Despite the blaring sirens, this red car in Auburn isn’t pulling over for an ambulance. Paramedic Michael Blakemore captured the incident on his cell phone and says people not pulling over happens almost every call. His message tonight at 11 @newscentermaine pic.twitter.com/IyNFNUNuWy
— Roslyn Flaherty (@roslyn_flaherty) February 23, 2020
The ambulance crew was responding to a call about a woman who was in pain and experiencing shortness of breath. Blakemore said it added five minutes to their response time.
“If you’re in bed and your loved one stops breathing and you call 911, you don’t want people getting in the way of that ambulance, you want it there now,” he said.
Blakemore said similar incidents happen all the time, but not usually to this extent.
Maine law requires drivers to pull over immediately when an emergency vehicle has its lights and sirens on. Failure to move over can result in a $250 fine.
Blakemore says he wrote down the car’s license plate number and reported the incident to police.