Man arrested for traffic violation after rushing wife to hospital

Honestly, I was in a situation 20 years ago where me and a couple of neighbors rushed a lady to a hospital including blowing several red lights along the way, we were pulled over, explained the situation to the officer who took one look at the woman we were transporting and gave us a police escort the rest of the way.

What always bothers me in situations such as these as two things are not said. First, "Officer" Not ,,,"Pig", " Fuck off" "I don't give a shit",,,,etc etc....

Second, "Sir, I understand your position, but I truly believe a medical emergency exists here, could we please talk to the supervisor on duty for clarification.


Those two statements in a calm, delivered manner will always work with a trained officer,,, even if you're not allowed to proceed, an ambulance will be called to the scene.. ...And heres the rub, all ambulance admit-tees get priority access, over walk ins...

Now I don't know what transpired but I'd bet dimes to donuts that the guy transporting the woman got belligerent. ...And cops aren't going to put up with that regardless of what you tell them.....

While I am sure this is often the case, the lengths they have gone to to prosecute this guy seem way excessive. Not just at the time, later that day, the next day. I mean they were trying to arrest him while the doctors needed him for a medical history because his wife was incoherent. I don't think any amount of bad words would justify that. And who, while carryinging their stroking wife in their arms, is going to manage to be 100% calm and courteous? A few minutes delay could actually have killed her.

...And blowing red lights doesn't put her and him at risk as well????

Where does the story go if he gets slammed avoiding the cops on the way to the hospital.. The cops would get blamed for not doing everything they could to stop him.

I doubt a States Attorney is going support all these charges, unless there's something here we don't know.

By then the red light was blown, the only life at risk was his wife's. I am sure he will happilly take any penalty due but how do you justify standing between a critically ill person and the hospital? I don't think so. Once it was identified as a medical emergency the police should facilitate care of the patient and worry about everything else later.

I don't know how it works in Tennessee, but in Michigan a prosecuting attorney issues warrants based on reports written by police. They make the decisions on what to charge a person with, not the police.

I'm sure there is much more to the story...

Don Allen said:

...And blowing red lights doesn't put her and him at risk as well????

Where does the story go if he gets slammed avoiding the cops on the way to the hospital.. The cops would get blamed for not doing everything they could to stop him.

I doubt a States Attorney is going support all these charges, unless there's something here we don't know.

Click to expand...

What I read said he stopped at each red light (there were only two) before proceeding through them, horn blowing and flashers flashing.

I was in a similar situation as well - my mother suffered a stroke, refused (adamantly) to have me call an ambulance, but allowed me to drive her to the hospital - 30 miles away. Suffice it to say, my car reached speeds it had only dreamed of. Yes, we made it to the hospital in one piece - but as I thought back on it, I realized just how IDIOTIC and STUPID I had been. All it would have taken is one driver doing what drivers normally do - pulling onto the highway without checking, making a turn without signaling, any of those things that can be avoided at lower speeds - and we all would've been roadkill.

Like this guy - I stupidly put not only me and my mother in danger, I put all these other people at risk as well. Did I have that right, just because it was my mother? If I had gotten into an accident on the way, how could I justify to the other family why? What right did I have to put my mother's wishes above the lives of other people on the road?

Absolutely none.

Don't act like what he did was somehow noble or "required". He - like me - should have called an ambulance instead of putting *other people* at risk. They would have had the equipment and communications to start the evaluations before reaching the hospital, and the sirens and lights to go through red lights without having to stop or confuse people.

Police are getting worse and worse. i tend to think the police force hires only gun hungry jocks who are afraid of everyone. The amount of times I have read about some cop stomping on an unarmed man who is on the ground or shooting (murdering) some kid because they "think" a cell phone is a gun the more I hate the creeps. If they want to inspire fear, they are doing it for sure but it is the fear a sane person has when encountering a dangerous crazy person-- and that is my Rant about modern coppage. (Perhaps coprophages).

When I was little, my brother (age 3) got into the medicine cabinet and drunk an entire bottle of cough syrup thinking it was Kool Aid (and yes, he had figured out how to get through the child proof cap).

My dad blew through every red light in town got him to the hospital and they were able to pump his stomach in just the nick of time.

He barely survived. Had my dad been 10 minutes later, enough cough syrup would have gotten into my brother's system to cause permanent organ damage or death.

Luckily, he encountered no police on the way.

Sometimes, these situations are not hypotheticals, sometimes they are real.

When people blew through red lights, they don't do it like they do in HOllywood. In real life people slow down, make sure no cars are coming, then blow through the light.

So the argument that you are putting lives at risk is not as strong as it sounds. Yes, there is risk, but in situations like these, the risks are more than justified given the possible alternatives.

Mel...

MattW said:

Is this an overreaction by law enforcement? Are the police operating under some illusion of infallibility? Does a longer list of charges somehow make the officer more right?

Click to expand...

I defended the punching cop, completely.

But if this story is accurate, then it's a total overreaction by a badge heavy cop.

There should be no charges filed; in fact there should be an apology from the PD.

But once again, it's hard to form a definitive opinion from a news story -- they're not always accurate, as many here have often noted.

dgiharris said:

When people blew through red lights, they don't do it like they do in HOllywood. In real life people slow down, make sure no cars are coming, then blow through the light.

Click to expand...

^This

If someone across the street was in urgent need of medical care would you look for a crosswalk and wait for the light to turn? No, you would look for oncoming traffic, and then jay-walk, because sometimes laws with good intentions get in the way. What her husband did was no different, and is why it is ridiculous that the police decided to throw everything but the kitchen sink at him!

The guy even tried to turn himself in! Instead they arrest him later with exaggerated charges, and somehow expect people to not find out or get upset? I do not envy the people who have to deal with the torrent of angry e-mails, letters, and phone calls this has generated.

rugcat said:

I defended the punching cop, completely.

But if this story is accurate, then it's a total overreaction by a badge heavy cop.

There should be no charges filed; in fact there should be an apology from the PD.

But once again, it's hard to form a definitive opinion from a news story -- they're not always accurate, as many here have often noted.

Click to expand...

I think most people here can recognize that if rugcat and I agree on something, it must have been engraved on stone tablets and passed down the mountainside first.

So this thread's done. Thank you.

Also, what Mel said applies. When seconds count, ambulances, like the police, are minutes away.

There's a name for people who wait for the authorities to bail them out of bad situations. They're called corpses.

dgiharris said:

When I was little, my brother (age 3) got into the medicine cabinet and drunk an entire bottle of cough syrup thinking it was Kool Aid (and yes, he had figured out how to get through the child proof cap).

My dad blew through every red light in town got him to the hospital and they were able to pump his stomach in just the nick of time.

He barely survived. Had my dad been 10 minutes later, enough cough syrup would have gotten into my brother's system to cause permanent organ damage or death.

Click to expand...

On the other hand - ambulance personnel could've started treatment on the way to the hospital. Your father could've gotten t-boned by a car he didn't see as he blew through the light.

As I said, I've done it - and I still thank God no one got killed because of my idiocy.

Here's the thing, YES, without question there are times when an emergency situation, where an ambulance isn't readily available necessitates the judgement of one to seek out a hospital as fast as possible, to this, I think we're all in agreement.

But, in this situation... First, a stroking patient could actually be made worse in a harrowing car ride as blood pressure would surely rise from the experience. Second, EMT"S can do preliminary stat functions on the way to the hospital that will in FACT save more time, and more accurately assess a situation than a person can do by saving five or ten minutes getting to the hospital. Third, I don't care how careful you may be, you are risking the lives of others as well as yourself, needlessly.


Now, as to How bad the police have been lately, that's just bullshit..

3 times a week we get the "Police brutality link" but, a million times a week cops do what their suppose to do and deal with an abusive public, gun toting thugs, drunks, derelicts, morons, drug addicts, drug pushers, and the worst of all,,,(ask any cop) DOMESTIC VIOLENCE situations where one time lovers routinely beat and kill each other then take out their anger on the police officer trying to intervene.


Where's the fucking link???? You get a case like this and people go ga ga because of the injustice..

Now put yourself in the cops POV for one second at the time of this incident..

A car, driven by an unknown male is proceeding at a high rate of speed, ignoring traffic signals, and refusing to stop.

At this point the officer has to make split second decisions as to what this offenders motivation may be. The first thing that comes to his mind,
IS NOT, Gee, he must be saving his ill wife...

Robbery, drugs, alcohol, etc,etc. Now the cop has to determine instantaneously whether or not this guy is so messed up he will injure innocents as he proceeds... This is a extremely difficult call.


As it is, this cop used good judgment and followed this guy to the hospital, instead of ramming his vehicle to stop it.

Once at the hospital... The cop let the patient get treatment then files the charges.. You may not like it... It may sound excessive... But, you can't have everyone disregarding the rules and ignoring the directions of police officers in every situation. I still doubt, this guy will get convicted of anything, and I think its more of a warning to others that you need to follow the rules in place for the safety of everyone. IMHO.....

MattW said:

- Days later, he is arrested at the hospital for a variety of charges, including: assault on police, disorderly conduct, reckless endangerment, felony evading arrest, registration expired and two counts of traffic signals violation

Click to expand...

It seems cops are now emboldened arrest for "assault" any time a citizen doesn't completely agree with them. In the minds of police officers, "assault" on them includes dirty looks or failing to immediately offer fellatio.

I sided with the police in pretty much all of the recent example. But siding with the police very time is no more reasonable than siding against them everytime. they are a large, human, workforce and they make mistakes. If people were more flexible in admitting it this kind of story wouldn't be such a big deal. They are civic umpires, always right on the field, not always right in the lockerroom. And I prefer the cricket approach (errors corrected) to the baseball approach (errors stand).

I learned a long time ago that even if you're rushing to the hospital, if a cop turns on his lights, stop and pull over. The one time it happened for my mom who had a stroke, the police officer was more than happy to give us an escort and we got there faster than if we hadn't stopped because they have the magical light changers and they have sirens where people are obligated to pull over and out of the way. If you are rushing to the hospital you want those magical lights to pop up in your rear view mirror because the vast majority of cops will help you, and they'll call ahead to the hospital and get a bed ready if it's severe.

Just curious: is there anyone who is inclined to view the assault charge as reasonable?

And I understand that the details of the "assault" incident may not be as well-established as we might like. I'm just curious if there are any minority perspectives, since a couple of people have expressed opposition/concerns about the assault charge.

Michael Wolfe said:

Just curious: is there anyone who is inclined to view the assault charge as reasonable?

And I understand that the details of the "assault" incident may not be as well-established as we might like. I'm just curious if there are any minority perspectives, since a couple of people have expressed opposition/concerns about the assault charge.

Click to expand...

It's really impossible to say one way or another without the details of what happened. If he was pushing and shoving then yeah. But without the details of the incident I just can't make that call.

I think sometimes the DA will throw everything they can at them, then work out a reasonable deal with the person's attorney (kinda like writing - throw everything at the wall and see what sticks). But yeah, can't go by what the media gives. I do think it's reasonable to charge him with something.

Michael Wolfe said:

Just curious: is there anyone who is inclined to view the assault charge as reasonable?

And I understand that the details of the "assault" incident may not be as well-established as we might like. I'm just curious if there are any minority perspectives, since a couple of people have expressed opposition/concerns about the assault charge.

Click to expand...

If you tick off a police officer (by scoffing at him, or declaring your mission is more important than the law) he can easily retaliate by claiming you assaulted him. It's the cop's word against yours.

Guess who has more credibility?

Devil Ledbetter said:

If you tick off a police officer (by scoffing at him, or declaring your mission is more important than the law) he can easily retaliate by claiming you assaulted him. It's the cop's word against yours.

Guess who has more credibility?

Click to expand...

All too true. I know it probably depends on the cop, and what kind of person he/she is, but many of them are ingrained with paranoia and power trips. I once laughed at a cop. That's it, swear to god. Seconds later I was on the ground, cop's knee pinned to my neck. Twelve hours later, when they finally revealed the charge, I posted seven hundred dollars bail and received arraignment notice for when I could plead guilty or not guilty for resisting arrest and public drunkenness. Neither of which I did, but how does one prove this when the cop says you did?

Lyx--Experiencing an onslaught of bitterness.