Rincon Fire Chief Corey Rahn was on his way to an actual emergency on April 10 when he was aggressively pursued by police. Naturally, he believed they were en route to the same incident. A series of videos have been released documenting the
absurd actions of the officer.
The chief was out running errands when he was alerted that a garbage truck had rear-ended a gas truck that was carrying 9,000 gallons of gas, 15 miles away from where he was. Understanding the severity of the situation, Rahn jumped in his personal vehicle and put a mini row of red emergency lights up so that he could rush to the scene and help.
As the fire chief was rushing to the scene, he became an unknowing suspect in a car chase. Despite his emergency lights, an officer began recklessly attempting to pull him over. However, as there was an extraordinarily dangerous situation, with a person trapped, Rahn assumed the officer was just on his way to the scene as well.
According to
SavannahNow, the Central Dispatch was reportedly "too busy" to check if it was someone who was responding to an incident. So, the chase continued until eventually the officer used his PA system to demand that the fire chief stop. Rahn heroically ignored the orders and continued to where he was needed, only then learning that he was being chased.
Comment: This helps to explain why nearly a quarter of California's 38 million residents (8.9 million) live in poverty. California continues to have - by far - the nation's highest level of poverty under an alternative method devised by the Census Bureau that takes into account both broader measures of income and the cost of living.