My apologies beforehand for getting on my soapbox, but the story below - copied from FireRescue1 News absolutely blows my mind. How could anyone think that they have the legal right to block firefighters / police / EMS from responding on a call just because they (emergency responders) must use a common driveway? I could kind of understand the elderly couple being upset if it was something "routine" like a plumber, newspaper delivery, or something like that . . . but this was an emergency where lives were in danger. What do you think?
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Pa. couple charged for not allowing fire truck on property
Emergency crews had to take an alternate route to the house where the gas leak was reported
The York Dispatch
WEST MANHEIM, Pa. — A 79-year-old West Manheim Township couple faces several charges for allegedly not allowing emergency vehicles access to a driveway that led to a house with a gas leak.
Nevin L. Barnhart and Miriam L. Barnhart, both of 2888 Baltimore Pike, have each been charged with one count each of obstructing administration of law or other government function, obstructing emergency services, disorderly conduct, obstructing highways and other public passages and three counts of recklessly endangering another
Nevin Barnhart said Wednesday he and his wife did nothing wrong when they told a fire chief and police officer on Dec. 2 not to use their 12-foot-wide driveway because the emergency equipment was too big for the driveway, which has a retaining wall and a fence.
Emergency crews took an alternate route to the house at 2904 Baltimore Pike where the gas leak was reported, West Manheim Township Police Chief Tim Hippensteel said. He said access to the house is obtained by a right-of-way driveway between the Barnharts home and 2898 Baltimore Pike.
When Pleasant Hill Fire Chief Ted Clousher -- who was standing outside -- tried to guide a fire engine onto the driveway, police saw Miriam Barnhart standing on the edge of the retaining wall at the driveway's edge, according to Hippensteel.
She disobeyed repeated orders to not block the driveway, he said. Then she and her husband told Clousher not the enter the driveway because it was private property, Hippensteel said. Miriam Barnhart also threatened to sue the fire department if the retaining wall or fence was struck or damaged, he said.
The Barnharts also ignored an officer's orders to move, and Miriam Barnhart grabbed the officer's arm and shoulder while arguing with him, according to Hippensteel.
Later argument: When the fire engine left for an alternate entry, the couple returned to their home, but came out a short time later to argue with police, the police chief said.
Hippensteel said Nevin Barnhart "aggressively approached" an officer while repeatedly saying, "You can't tell me what to do on my property!"
However, Nevin Barnhart said he made those statements to the officer because the officer told him to go inside the house, though he did nothing wrong.
"The things they're saying we did never happened," he said. "No one touched an officer. They're lying. That's our property and we got the proof in our deed. It belongs to us. Other people moved in and tried to use it."
Hippensteel said that over the past 23 years, the police department has responded to numerous complaints about the Barnharts' on-going harassment of others using this driveway.
The driveway is a lawful right of way serving other properties, and the Barnharts have no justifiable reason to block it, he said.
However, Nevin Barnhart said he and his wife have lived at the house for more than 46 years and did not have problems with anyone using their driveway until a house was built behind their home at least 25 years ago. The builders also put in a driveway and "hooked it on to our property."
Nevin Barnhart said that in 2008, the York Water Co. paid him for a right of way."They're the only ones who have that type of access because they paid us for an easement," he said.
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