Police Release Dashcam of Baby Rescue During Suicide Standoff

Intense footage of officers rescuing a baby from a car during a standoff with a suicidal armed man has been released by Arkansas police.

Little Rock Police Department released the dashcam footage on Dec. 28—they talk down a suicidal father as they rescue his 1-year-old baby from the passenger seat.

Farris Deloney, 43, had fired shots following an argument with the mother and had driven off with their daughter, sparking a police pursuit that culminated in the standoff on Dec. 19.

Deloney was charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault, and two counts of endangering the welfare of a minor, according to KATV.

The video shows a female officer climbing into the passenger seat mid-standoff, as officers tell Deloney, “Don’t do it!” The officer emerges a few seconds later with the baby dressed in pink.

The moment a police officer pulls a 1-year-old from a car during an armed standoff with Farris Deloney, 43, in Little Rock, Ark. Screenshot/Little Rock Police

According to Little Rock Police, the 13-minute video has been “trimmed for time constraints.” The total time elapsed is not clear, but at one edit point, just before Deloney emerges, the direction of the clouds jumps by around 60 degrees, suggesting a significant length of time.

Local reports said that the incident lasted two hours in total—from the time the shots were fired in the parking lot to Deloney’s arrest. The standoff lasted one hour, according to Arkansas Online.

The latest police statement, released along with the video, only refers to one child being in the vehicle. Earlier media reports, however, mentioned two children.

Police had chased Deloney to a highway exit ramp, following an incident at a nearby Walmart on the morning of Dec. 19.

The mother of the rescued baby said that Deloney had been acting strangely during a child visitation exchange, reported KATV, and had been brandishing a pistol.

Afraid for her safety, she began running toward the Walmart entrance.

Citing a police report, KATV said that Deloney fired at least one shot at her, before getting into his vehicle—the Mazda CX-9 seen in the video.

At that point, the baby was in the woman’s Toyota nearby. He drove over to the Toyota, took the baby out, put her in his car, and drove off.

‘Can I Please Get the Baby Out of the Car, Sir?’

After a short pursuit, police pulled over the vehicle. As they approached, Deloney threatened suicide.

The moment a police officer pulls a 1-year-old from a car during an armed standoff with Farris Deloney, 43, in Little Rock, Ark. Screenshot/Little Rock Police

One female officer repeatedly asks Deloney, “Can I please get the baby out of the car, sir?” As the other officers continue to talk Deloney down, she eventually opens the door, climbs in, and then takes the baby out.

The scene of the armed standoff between police and the driver of the white Mazda on Dec. 19, 2018. Screenshot/Little Rock Police

The officers can be then heard pleading with him not to take his life, encouraging him to think of his daughter, who they call Olivia, and how she will need her father.

Eventually, Deloney gives in, backing out of the car and slowly walking backward toward the officers under their instruction with his hands in the air.

“Through de-escalation tactics and negotiation with the subject, officers were able to remove the child from the vehicle safely and take the subject into custody,” said a Little Rock Police statement. “The subject was later transported to an area hospital for a medical evaluation.”

During the video, one officer can be heard repeatedly shouting to his fellow officers about crossfire problems; something picked up by some commentators on social media.

“So many officer safety issues in this video,” they wrote on YouTube. “Crossfire, female officer kept walking between patrol vehicle and suspect vehicle. Everyone needs to be on one side of the vehicle in case the crap does hit the fan. Not Monday morning QB’ing but hopefully it was a learning situation. I was cringing the whole first 3 mins of the stop.”

But the majority of comments on the Little Rock Police Department Facebook post were in praise of the police and their actions.