SALEM - The wife of Salem Budget Committee member Patrick McDougall says that her husband should not have been charged with obstructing government administration for allegedly stopping paramedics from transporting her to the hospital.

Patrick McDougall, 37, who is also a member of the town's Zoning Board of Adjustment, was charged Wednesday, July 11, with a Class B misdemeanor by Salem police.

“My husband was very concerned about the ambulance bill that we cannot afford,” Jane McDougall said.

Jane McDougall said she had been suffering from a migraine on the night she dialed 911 for a ride to the hospital.

“I was in such severe pain, the medications that I was prescribed (were) not working,” she said. “I had to put ice packs on my head to try to help, but it only intensified the headache even more.”

Jane McDougall called 911 on June 26 at 12:10 a.m. Patrick McDougall met paramedics at the doorstep and told them they were not going to take his wife to the hospital, according to police.

While he argued with paramedics, Jane McDougall called 911 again saying her husband was arguing with paramedics and that she still wanted to be transported, according to police and a recording of the 911 call.

Jane McDougall emphasized that her husband did drive her to the hospital. She said he was only worried because they did not have insurance and could not afford the ambulance ride.

She said she wants charges against her husband dropped.

Police had begun investigating McDougall's conduct once they were called to the home, but McDougall himself also requested an investigation hours later in an email sent to town officials.

McDougall emailed Salem Fire Chief Kevin Breen, Town Manager Keith Hickey and Police Chief Paul Donovan complaining and asking for an investigation.

“When the officers arrived, one officer was rude and disrespectful towards me, to which I replied, 'There is no need to (be) disrespectful. I'm respecting you,” Patrick McDougall wrote in the email.

Police have had two other run-ins with Patrick McDougall in the last year, town and police records show.

On April 24, McDougall brandished his town identification card to the Police Department's animal control officer, Corie Bliss, and said he “worked for the town,” according to a letter Police Chief Paul Donovan wrote to Hickey about the incident.

The incident prompted him to be questioned by police.

McDougall had been driving up and down McLaughlin Avenue, distracting Bliss while she tried to capture a large dog that had been causing problems in the area, Donovan said. Bliss asked McDougall if he was the dog's owner, which prompted him to flash his town ID card, Donovan wrote.

“His judgment in this instance was very poor, and I have to wonder whether he understands just what 'authority' he has as an elected member of the Zoning Board of Adjustment,” Donovan wrote to Hickey.

In December, McDougall was also ordered by police to adhere to a driving route for parents at Soule School. The route was developed to prevent vehicles from crossing paths with buses arriving or department from the school at the same time.

Police were asked by school officials to speak to McDougall after flouting the rule “many times,” according to a police report.

“I explained to McDougall that, as an elected official, people may expect more from him,” police officer Matthew Norcross wrote in his report, adding he was concerned other residents would start to follow McDougall's lead. Police warned they could charge him with disobeying a police officer if he did not adhere to the route.

“McDougall said he would look into the law because he wanted to challenge it,” Norcross wrote.