Hookpunch, good work stopping and rendering assistance. You were right to look for guidance in treatment from the others arriving on scene. Don't let any outcome for the victims get you down, learn from it and move on.

As for the rest of this, I'll talk out of my alternate orifice:
- the arriving off duty fire fighter did the right thing by evaluating *all* accident victims (the two in the other car), not just the victim who was inverted that you were directed to. That alone would count for some points with me in determining who was in charge of the accident scene. Its always a risk that folks who are early on scene will tunnel vision on one victim and ignore some others.
- cutting out the inverted victim: that's a judgment call imho, maybe a paramedic could clarify the protocol for an off duty doing this. I couldn't make that judgment unless there was a proximate risk to the victim (fire), or I detected they had stopped breathing (ABC). If the off duty firefighter made the call before any other help arrived I would assume it was because he assessed the victim was in danger due to the inverted position - I might directly ask, should we wait for EMS and more equipment, they are minutes out. He might stick to his initial assessment, or go with the assessment of the 911 operator to stay put and stabilize the victim. If he decides to cut the victim out, you do your best to assist with stablization during and after cut out.
- LEO made his own decision to cut the victim out: assist with stablization during and after the cut out.

The rest is noise, you were okay to be confused by it. Some responders might want you to continue assistance if you are immediately involved and they don't want you to move off task (my first accident victim I held her head in place for 20 minutes until they could get a collar around her), also with additional responders they may have re-assessed the other two victims and been short of hands for a while, which subsequently showed up, putting you more in the way than being any help. Don't sweat it - you stopped, you kept your assistance to your training, almost any responder should thank you for that.

Ditto. My other pet peeve are the accident victims walking around in C-collars. F*ing ridiculous.

Who's in control at various scenes has caused no end of trouble. There is what NIMS says (which is supposed to be federal law - hahaha - I'm funny sometimes), there is what is real. Want to have fun? Watch FDNY and NYPD try to decide that, when it's a possible crime scene, along with a technical rescue, where the FDNY Rescue units and ESU are both on scene. It's come to blows in the past

I should probably have mentioned that, like so many of my war stories, this one came from the millennium just past. Recent encounters with EMS (the plumber next door who fell from the roof, the lady at work with a petit mal seizure) have been impressively professional.

Your experience with nobody having a knife reminds me of the time I hired some "carpenters" to do some work at my home. I had to loan them a tape, framing square and a circular saw! They didn't last long.

Kinda exciting in a bad way isn't it.

Good job on stopping to render aid.

The drivers in the family got Benchmade Houdini Pro rescue tools in their stockings this year. I would have gone with the keychain version, but I like the idea of the added leverage/controllability available in the larger version.

The thing to do is review your actions (not second guess yourself), and learn from the experience. You should have been along for the ride two Thanksgivings ago. I forget the thread name, but I mentioned it here once.
I relearned a great deal from that experience that I had forgotten over the years, and DS really got an eye opener on vehicle accidents.

You should see how much Kerlix and how many 4x4's can be vac-sealed and stuffed into an M3 medic bag....

Keep in mind, that short of the badge they are wearing, the radio they communicate with, and the vehicle they are driving, MANY (if not most) LEO's and Fire/EMS folks provide their own gear from their own resources. This is especially true in small departments or volunteer units.

Sometimes one also forgets something on the nightstand at home.

Thanks, it was Ontario Provincial Police, a very large department, I guess I thought that a rescue hammer and seatbelt cutter would be standard equipment given they patrol the provincial highways and have a traffic focus more than the municipal departments like Toronto or Durham where I live.

My brother is an LEO on the Toronto force, I'll ask him what standard equipment they get.

Still though, who knows with bureaucrats though, maybe they don't think of providing that type of equipment.

Can't say as I know much about Ontario, just what I have heard. Almost did though ...

I have seen a bit of Quebec, and met a few LEO's (on good terms). Did not see outward evidence of a knife, but then I wasn't searching their pockets. I do know that during my time in civilian LE, I provided EVERYTHING but the radio, car and badge.