Fallen Delaware Paramedic Ruled 'Firefighter' Under State Law
Paramedic Michelle Smith was a "firefighter" under state law when she was killed while tending to an injured man late last year, a Delaware Superior Court judge ruled on Oct. 14.
Delaware City Fire Co. Paramedic Michelle Smith was a "firefighter" under state law when she was killed while tending to an injured man late last year, a Delaware Superior Court judge ruled on Oct. 14, according to The News Journal.
Judge Jerome O. Herlihy's ruling allows a possible conviction of Joseph Taye -- the man behind the wheel of the vehicle that killed Smith -- on first-degree murder charges that would send him to prison for life.
Herlihy, however, noted that his ruling was preliminary, and on a legal issue, and is not his final ruling on the facts, according to the newspaper's report.
Taye's attorney, Joe Hurley, contends that the state law includes no definition of a firefighter and that the dictionary definition is "someone who fights fires." He said Smith was the driver of the ambulance and was acting as such, no mater her other titles.
This past June, the state's Gov. Jack A. Markell signed a bill for the "Michelle Smith's Law" adding paramedics, EMTs, fire marshals and fire police officers to a list of first responders whose death can result in a first-degree murder charge in future cases
Firehouse.com will provide more information on this story as it becomes available.
