Man issued speeding ticket while driving pregnant wife to hospital (insurance, house)

[L'Artiste]

Go to court date, explain to the DA and he will mostly likely reduce the fine.

[cdcdguy]

Originally Posted by stan4

Are you saying the husband knew she would deliver in 20 minutes?
He placed a sterile glove on his hand and checked her cervix...my god, she's at zero station and fully effaced! No time to drive safely! Better haul ass to the hospital!!!!

If he did know, then he's a bigger fool for not calling the ambulance. I doubt this yahoo knew how to deal with a precipitous delivery himself.

lol....11 over is in NO WAY "hauling ass". He was speeding for sure but let us tell it like it is without over-exagerating the siutation by using dramatic terms like"Hauling Ass." Getting stopped for doing 25-40 over? Then your term would be accurate.

[Mike from back east]

Reading all these comments it seems that we're doing Monty Python real proud.



Monty Python - Argument Clinic - YouTube

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by Mollym313

I would agree on some situations but...102!!!??? It is too hard to stop safely, avoid other traffic etc if you are going that fast on public streets/hwy.

This is a hijack; it's not the topic of the thread.

[Islandsnow]

Originally Posted by Dorthy

I don't consider 11 miles over the speed limit as "hauling ass". It's obnoxious that the officer would keep them waiting while the wife was in labor. Have you felt what a contraction feels like. I guess the officer hasn't either. The officer should have given the couple a break. He can do that. He just chose not to.

I agree with you. Contractions are painful, especially if you have to ride in an car sitting in a awkward position bouncing up and down on the turns.

To those saying that pregnancy isn't fatal tell that to my mother that i almost lost having me by seizures, and also tell that to a friend of mine which lost her twins during delivery.

I don't know this "perfect world" some of you are living in, i just can't see it.

Not everyone can afford to call an ambulance. All of a sudden it isn't an emergency because its not one of us but when it does happen to us i'm sure some of you want to treat is as one.

I foresee this threat locking soon anyway.
thanks for letting me release my rant.

[chilicheesefries]

the first thing I thought when I read this article was there is more to the story. A simple 11 MPH over the speed limit ticket does not get you a $167 dollar fine unless it was done in a school zone or construction zone. Did they ever publish where this took place? All I saw in any of the articles was that it was an Arapahoe County deputy but not anything else about the circumstances. I will reserve full judgment until the fact all come out.

Originally Posted by Dorthy

I don't think a police escort would be necessary in this case but the cop should have just let the driver go with a quick and simple verbal warning so that the couple was not delayed further. 11mph over the speed limit is not excessive nor unusual in Denver.

This is absolutely what I would say. It seems the driver might have been a little bit rude? But in the stressful situation it could have been forgiven? Regardless, police escorts except in the most extreme of situations do not happen. Imagine this - most jurisdictions have to get supervisor approval to even run emergent to a call, so the deputy would have had to call their supervisor. Then they would have had to call any jurisdiction they were going through (depending on where they were they might have had to call Douglas County Sheriff and Lone Tree PD) and get their approval. Probably get Colorado State Patrol involved. And then all their butts are on the line. It's not as trivial as many make it sound.

Originally Posted by TechMike

Also, if it was that close to delivery he should have called an ambulance. They at least have some medical training, should the delivery happen before arriving.

That's the official line. The truth is the ambulance probably has limited or no neonatal gear. The best place for a high-risk birth is the hospital. If he had to wait for the ambulance to arrive and then transport it adds quite a bit of time to how long it takes to get to the place they need to be - the hospital. Probably 5-7 minutes until the ambulance gets there and then another 10 minutes while they triage and transport. That time will not be made up. If labor is eminent then the paramedics can provide some level of care but if she is stable and already in the car and moving there isn't much of an advantage. This doesn't even talk about the cost of the ambulance which is not trivial. So while it isn't a true emergency, it is definitely urgent. Another example is when my toddler son cracked his head open on a step. He was bleeding a good amount but he wasn't unconcious or having trouble breathing. Was it urgent? Yes. Would it have helped to call an ambulance? Not much they could have done since it wasn't uncontrolled bleeding. This is the classic case of 'stitches'. Urgent enough to get the place that stitches can be done at quickly but not urgent enough to call an ambulance. Did I go over 11 MPH over the limit? Absolutely. Was it in Arapahoe County/Centennial - absolutely. Did I get pulled over - no. Would I have gotten a ticket if I had gotten pulled over - I don't know. Did I care at the time - no.

Originally Posted by Dorthy

Pregnancy, labor and birth are all natural conditions and rarely would they call for a ride to the hospital in an ambulance. That said, labor can be excruciatingly painful. Holding up a woman who is in labor and very likely in a great deal of pain so that the cop can take his sweet time writing a speeding ticket for someone who is going 11mph over the limit is unnecessary. People get warnings all the time. Why couldn't this cop just show some compassion for the situation and let them go. 11mph over the speed limit is not a big deal. He could have let them go but he chose to exercise a lack of compassion and understanding in favor of being a p**** and adding to the negative reputation of the Denver PD.

Not Denver PD in this case, but still negative. I do want to hear the rest of the story but the man won't release it is he intends to go the court and the Arapahoe County SO won't present their side so we might not know.

[ryanek9freak]

Originally Posted by KaaBoom

What if you can't afford $500 for an ambulance? Many people drive themselves to the hospital in emergencies. Plus in this case the man's wife was about 20 minutes away from having the baby. If the ambulance was delayed for any reason, there may not have been enough time.



It was an emergency. He was taking his wife to the hospital to have a baby.



Did you read the article? He didn't endanger anyone. He was sighted for driving 11 miles over the speed limit. Which is close to the speed the majority of people drive in none emergency situations. You expect him to drive slower then the flow of traffic, while rushing his wife to the hospital?

If you can't afford $500 for an ambulance, then you sure as hell can't afford to have a baby.

[KaaBoom]

Originally Posted by ryanek9freak

If you can't afford $500 for an ambulance, then you sure as hell can't afford to have a baby.

Maybe they can afford it but would rather put the money to better use then spending it on an unnecessary ambulance ride, just because some cop decided to blackmail with a speeding ticket.

[KaaBoom]

Originally Posted by indy_317

Wrong. In most states, there are limits to where speeding and continued blowing through red lights and stop signs is consider more than just a ticket. In Indiana, it is reckless driving and/or criminal recklessness. So the most a police officer in Indiana can do is arrest the driver, then call for an ambulance.

Great, not only do you want to see a guy racing his wife to the hospital to have a baby, get a speeding ticket. But you also want to see him get arrested, charged with reckless driving, probably lose his drivers license and have a criminal record.

No wonder the US has the largest prison population in the world. Some of you wont be happy until everyone in this country is locked up. Maybe you like to start sending people to jail for parking tickets?

[KaaBoom]

Originally Posted by Dorthy

I think that 102mph was extreme and ticket worthy. I think that 11 mph over the speed limit is not extreme and whether it's ticket worthy or warning worthy is up to the police officer. A wife in labor on her way to the hospital seems like a legitimate reason to just let the guy off with a warning.

I agree with most of what you say. But I wonder why do people consider triple digit speeds to be so extreme? People in some parts of the world routinely drive well in excess of 100 mph in non-emergency situations. I've hit 102 just keeping up with the flow of traffic on some downhill stretches of Interstates. I've also driven many long stretches of highways in Montana (legally) at 100 mph speeds, without any issues. In the right situations I can see 102 mph being a very reasonable speed to drive in an emergency. And in that 102 mph case, a judge seems to agree with me. Since that man was found not guilty of speeding.