This past weekend we attended the first ever Bike-Fest Event on the newly re-opened Fayetteville Street in Downtown Raleigh. After enjoying the event enormously, I encountered a distressful discriminatory event involving a Raleigh Police Officer... Needless to say, I was more than a little upset:

We left the bikefest and at the intersection of Atlantic Ave and Millbrook, we saw a person lying in the roadway. No EMS or Fire/Rescue Personnel were on the scene. It was apparent that the incident had just happened.

Both Mark and I have medical training so we pulled over. Mark is a NC EMT/firefighter with the Greensboro FD, and I'm a trauma nurse in an ICU. I also have EMS/and Emergency nursing experience. We have both successfully completed the "Crash Course for the Motorcyclist".

As I was starting my ABC assessment, and waiting on Mark to assist me, a plain-clothes Raleigh Police Officer told us to step back, that EMS was on the way. Mark showed her his NC EMT identification card and she was VERY VERY rude to us as professionals. I can only guess that with our biker attire on she thought we were beligerent drunk bikers or something.....pffft. We meant no harm or disrespect.

If EMS had been there, we would NOT have stopped, but they WERE NOT there. The police officer (female) was doing NOTHING to provide help, to the victim.

I feel discriminated against because (even though I am a a medical professional) I was on a motorcycle wearing biker attire, and treated with contempt. I think if I would have been in scrubs with my ID badge on, maybe it would have been different. Obviously the Raleigh PD needs to be educated that there are bikers who have medical training, and are able to provide care in an emergency situation. Also, bikers who are medically trained need to make sure if they start care, no matter what, continue care until EMS arrives.