Update, 4:45 pm: Entire squad voluntarily suspends service for a month. Scroll down for details.
TWO NORTH PLAINFIELD (NEW JERSEY) RESCUE SQUAD members have been suspended after being arrested early Wednesday morning and charged with possession of marijuana in their ambulance.
The two medics, Yanis Laureano, 23, and Dennis Lopes, 19, were not on an emergency call but were seen in a known drug area acting in a suspicious manner by an informant who called the police. The officers located the ambulance within a few minutes and found less than 50 grams of marijuana on their persons.
Dennis Lopes is shown 2nd from right in the back row
of this photo posted on the Rescue Squad website.
North Plainfield has two ambulances in service, one on “active” duty and the other in an “on call” status. The ambulance that was stopped was listed in the on call status and had not been dispatched to any address in that area. A police spokesman said that was not the first time that the ambulance had been observed in the area.
Sources:
The Star-Ledger,
Central Jersey Courier-News
North Plainfield Rescue Squad WEBSITE.
UPDATE, 4:45 pm:
FG reader Shawn G. has forwarded the following information from a meeting held this afternoon:
The North Plainfield Rescue Squad has announced that they will voluntarily suspend operations for a month and all emergency rescue responsibilities will be assumed by the North Plainfield Fire Department during that time. The Courier News tells:
The decision was made shortly after joint meetings held between squad leaders and borough municipal, police and fire officials. According to a plan unveiled Thursday afternoon, the fire department will handle primary emergency services from Friday through Oct. 4, officials said. The squad during that period will have “the opportunity to complete (an) internal investigation, reorganize the staff officers, and evaluate and revise their operational procedures,” according to a joint announcement.
The rescue squad will continue to handle secondary calls in the borough during that period, and subject to the approval of Mayor Michael Giordano Jr. and his administration, it will resume providing primary coverage by Oct. 5.
