Bucksport has a policy enacted to save money. Bucksport has a police officer and a dispatcher who acted to save a life.

Now, town officials must choose which takes priority and, sadly, they seem to be putting the policy first.

Officer Kevin Megno and Dispatcher Carole Gray are on suspension for responding to an accident across the town line in Verona in which a pedestrian was struck and severely injured by a driver who later was charged with aggravated drunk driving. Armed with 20/20 hindsight and the apparent expectation that their emergency workers possess clairvoyance, the town council now is shredding their good samaritans.

Their primary argument, besides the one that the rules are the rules, is that Megno, who ventured all of a half-mile into foreign territory March 29 and was first on the scene, should have known that an ambulance would arrive within three minutes and a state trooper shortly thereafter.

While Megno knew the ambulance had been dispatched, he, as a cop and an emergency medical technician, also probably knew that things can go wrong, even to ambulances. They can break down, they can get stuck in traffic, they can be three minutes too late.

Suppose Megno had stayed out of it, stayed in his jurisdiction. Suppose the victim had needed CPR, did not get it in time and died. Suppose the driver had taken off and caused another accident, perhaps a fatal accident. How would Bucksport officials feel then? Probably a lot like they felt two years ago when another one of their officers watched a burglary take place across the street in Orland but could not intervene. Only a lot worse.

The Bucksport Town Council should do two things: It should listen to the 350 residents who have petitioned for the full reinstatement of the two officers; it should work out the agreements other towns, counties and states already have worked out that allows emergency personnel to cross borders in life-threatening emergencies.

Bucksport has what every town covets — employees who show good judgment, common sense, a devotion to duty and an instinct for doing the right thing. It’s unfortunate that this cause for civic pride is being sacrificed to a flawed policy.