MERCER COUNTY Police discuss inmate ambulance bills

An ambulance service wants the police department to pay a prisoner's bill.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
FARRELL, Pa. -- The Southwest Mercer County Police Commission said it isn't about to become a collection agency for ambulance services providing hospital transports for prisoners held at the Shenango Valley Regional Lock-Up.
Police Chief Riley Smoot told the commission Tuesday that Rural/Metro Ambulance service has billed the department $390 for transporting a prisoner from the jail to a local hospital.
The total bill was $800, but the ambulance service wants the department to cover part of it, he said.
Commission members said the bill should be the responsibility of the prisoner involved, not the police department or the police commission.
"I don't want to get into the business of being a bill collector for the ambulance service," said James DeCapua, commission chairman.
Happened before
Smoot said the department has received bills from ambulance services before but returned them with the name and address of the prisoner transported, stipulating that the bill is the responsibility of the prisoner transported.
Usually, that's the end of it, Smoot said.
However, this time, Rural/Metro resubmitted a bill to the department, he said, adding that the commission should enact a policy to deal with the issue, particularly as other ambulance services may try the same approach, he said.
Smoot said prisoners are advised when they request to go to a hospital that the trip must be made by ambulance and that the cost is their responsibility, not the department's.
DeCapua instructed Smoot and Atty. Robert Tesone, commission solicitor, to draw up a release form that prisoners must sign when requesting an ambulance showing that they will be responsible for the cost.
Smoot said an ambulance will still be called even if the prisoner refuses to sign but that refusal will be noted on the form and the prisoner will still bear responsibility for the bill.
Officer declines post
In other business, the commission learned that a man hired as a part-time police officer last month has decided not to accept the $10 an hour post. Smoot said that Joshua McCloskey of Greenville, 22, said he couldn't work the part-time Southwest job into his schedule.
The commission quickly filled the slot by hiring Louis F. Lauderbaugh, 22, of New Castle, as a part-time officer. Lauderbaugh already works as a part-time Lawrence County deputy sheriff and is a member of the Pennsylvania National Guard.
His hiring is contingent on successful completion of physical and psychological testing, and he will serve a six-month probationary period.