The Chula Vista firefighter who was handcuffed by a highway patrol officer at a freeway crash site last month has filed a claim against the agency, claiming he was arrested “with malice.”

Firefighter/Engineer Jacob Gregoire told reporters Tuesday that he doesn’t want to file a lawsuit, but hopes the California Highway Patrol will settle the case by agreeing to not obstruct fire crews performing their duties on state highways.

“I’m not looking for compensation, I’m looking for policy change,” Gregoire said at downtown San Diego office of his attorney, Dan Gilleon.

Gilleon called the actions of CHP Officer Sergio Flores a violation of Gregoire’s Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable arrest. He filed the claim for damages against the state claims board on Friday.

CHP Officer Jake Sanchez, an agency spokesman, said he could not comment on the incident, his agency’s policy on controlling crash scenes, or the legal claim Gregoire filed.

The interagency squabble occurred Feb. 4, after a car headed south on Interstate 805 south of Telegraph Canyon Road had flipped over a temporary concrete divider wall alongside the fast lane.

Gregoire, who’s been with the Chula Vista Fire Department for 12 years, said he drove up in a fire engine, with a captain and firefighter on board, and parked behind an ambulance, following department policy of placing the fire rig so that it protects medical personnel and patients from passing traffic. The engine was in the freeway fast lane, with two CHP cars and another fire engine behind it.

CHP officers told the crew of the second engine that they weren’t needed, Gilleon said, and they left within a few minutes. Gregoire said he was unloading a gurney while his captain and the firefighter helped two patients from the wrecked car. At that point, Gregoire said, Flores told him to drive his engine away or face arrest.

He said he couldn’t leave without talking to his captain, then allowed himself to be handcuffed, searched and seated in the patrol car back seat.

“It was odd, a surreal situation,” Gregoire said. “At the time, I thought my career was over. It was tough, being seated in the back of that CHP car.”

Supervisors from both agencies resolved the issue and Gregoire was released about half an hour later. The District Attorney’s Office did not issue any charge against him.

Gilleon said there have been other tensions between the CHP and Chula Vista firefighters at freeway crash scenes, including one in 2010 and one two weeks after Gregoire’s detention.

“This situation has to do, I think, with ego,” Gilleon said.

Gregoire said he filed the legal claim to try to bring about a change in how the CHP acknowledges that fire personnel should be considered in charge of freeway crash scenes involving sick or injured patients.

Gilleon said if the CHP orders its officers to not arrest, delay or obstruct firefighters lawfully treating patients, the case would be resolved “without money changing hands.”

If the state denies the claim, Gilleon said Gregoire has two years to file a federal civil rights violation lawsuit.

Because of the pending litigation, the city of Chula Vista cannot comment on the claim, said city spokeswoman Anne Steinberger.

“The city continues to meet with CHP and supports ongoing efforts to ensure situations that happened on Feb. 4 do not happen again,” she said.