A 27-year-old firefighter in the U.K. is standing trial this week, accused of causing a death by dangerous driving, after the fire apparatus he was driving was involved in a two-crash crash that left one man dead.

Bedfordshire and Luton Fire and Rescue Service Firefighter Robert Hulatt was driving an engine on Sept. 11, 2009, when it collided with two cars. Lateef Sheikh, 52, suffered chest and brain injuries and died almost a month later. The four other passengers in his car suffered serious injuries. The driver of the second car suffered minor injuries.

According to the newspaper reports, Hulatt was at the end of his night shift when he received an emergency call to a house fire. Prosecution charged that Hulatt could not see the cars to his right and should have slowed or stopped. Hulatt was charged with causing death by dangerous driving.

Also in U.K. courts this week, a 49-year-old firefighter from Glastonbury pleaded guilty to reckless driving in relation to the death of a 75-year-old Somerset farmer who was crushed by his herd of cows after they were startled by fire engine sirens in August 2009.

While the apparatus drivers were charged in both these incidents, the officer-on-board also has direct personal responsibility for safe apparatus operations, “because he is in command of the apparatus,” said Texas-based attorney Jim Juneau.

“Everyone knows that such conduct on the part of the apparatus operator creates unnecessary risk to firefighters and citizens alike, and it is always the officer's job to use his command authority to see that known safety practices are followed, department policies and procedures are enforced, training guidelines are implemented, and unnecessarily dangerous behaviors are eliminated on his watch,” Juneau said.

Juneau has handled cases involving firefighters and citizens injured in connection with a variety of fire-service activities, particularly fire-apparatus operations. He evaluates whether the officer on the apparatus — or others up the chain of command — possessed enough knowledge of the danger to have triggered a command response.

“If the officer failed to take the appropriate corrective action, and if such action might have prevented the injury-causing event, then the officer will be held just as negligent — and thus just as responsible as the driver,” Juneau said. “The right thing to do is always the right thing to do — whether popular or not.”