WOODRIDGE – An attorney for the Village of Woodridge has written to the CEO of the Hatzolah Ambulance putting an end to the controversy over traffic tickets issued to two Hatzolah EMTs who responded to an emergency call with red lights on.

“On behalf of the Mayor, the Village of Woodridge both recognizes and acknowledges the rights of the properly licensed Hatzalah emergency vehicles to be treated as any other emergency vehicle including police, fire and other emergency vehicles,” wrote attorney Jeffrey Kaplan in an August 10 letter to ambulance service CEO Rabbi David Cohen.

Kaplan, who is also the mayor of the Village of Ellenville, wrote that, “In the future, the Village of Woodridge will continue to insure that the Hatzalah ambulances are treated in the same fashion as other emergency vehicles and trust that the operators of emergency vehicles will operate their vehicles in a prudent and safe manner.”

Woodridge Police Chief John Calvello, in another letter, wrote that after consultation with the police commissioner, “I have determined the tickets issued should be immediately withdrawn.”

Cohen is satisfied with the responses.“We were pleased to receive a letter withdrawing the tickets from our members and also a letter which set forth the village policy that Hatzolah will be recognized as every other official emergency organization such as police and fire, they will have the right to operate with their lights and sirens under safe conditions, obviously, and that we won’t have this issue come up again,” he told MidHudsonNews.com.

The tickets were issued when the two EMTs arrived at Village Hall for an emergency call and a police commissioner instructed the chief to issue the tickets.