Nurses Bail Out Dad Arrested After Rushing His Choking Baby to the Hospital

Police car. Nick Starichenko/Shutterstock

An Illinois father is grateful for the generosity a group of nurses showed after he was arrested for violating traffic laws while rushing his choking daughter to the hospital.

“I can’t thank them enough,” said the father, Darius Hinkle.

Hinkle told Fox 2 Now that he was driving without a valid license and speeding on the way of the hospital to save his 1-year-old daughter, who had choked on a penny.

“The first thing on my mind was to get her to the hospital,” Hinkle told the news station.

He said a number of police officers from different agencies were trailing behind him on the way, and arrested him when he arrived. They told Hinkle he was going over 100 mph.

When the 1-year-old’s mother arrived at the police station to pay Hinkle’s bond, she saw a woman she didn’t recognize. They learned that a group of nurses from Touchette Regional Hospital had put money in together to post bail to get the father out, reported the news station.

Speeding Ticket for Rushing Pregnant Wife to Hospital

In a similar case in 2017, a man was given a speeding ticket for rushing his wife to the hospital after she went into labor.

When Abraham Steinfeld’s wife went into labor, he loaded them into the Toyota and headed for Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, reported The Lakewood Scoop. He said he was first driving calmly, but when his wife could feel the birth was getting closer he sped up.

“I became quite frantic, so I automatically picked up speed, without realizing I was going way over the speed limit,” he told the news website.

That was when a Howell Police Officer spotted the minivan. Officer Anthony Marotto soon pulled Steinfeld over and approached the couple.

“My wife’s in advanced labor,” Steinfeld said.

Officer Marotto went through a routine traffic stop, getting the driver’s license and registration, then asking him to “sit tight for a few minutes. You know you were doing almost 80 miles an hour, right?”

Steinfeld said he pleaded with him to please make it fast as we are in an emergency, but he answered curtly, “Sit tight.”

Officer Marotto returned to his patrol car to run the license and registration. This process took almost ten minutes.

Halfway through the process, Steinfeld’s wife reached a critical point.

“My wife’s water just broke,” Steinfeld told the officer.

Marotto then asked, “Do you want me to have an ambulance come out here?”

File photo of a police car. Pixabay/CC0

The couple declined but instead asked the officer to escort them to the hospital.

“No, we don’t do that. That’s what ambulances are for. That’s why you’re not supposed to be driving that fast,” Marotto replied. The officer offered to call the ambulance again. According to App, the made four offers to call the ambulance.

Eventually, the officer handed Steinfeld a speeding ticket for driving 78 mph in a 50-mph zone and sent them on their way but not before reminding them to slow down.

“Listen—slow down because if you have an accident, you won’t get to the hospital—especially tonight there‘s a lot of deer out tonight, okay?” Marotto said.

The case attracted a debate on social media with users arguing for Steinfeld or defending Marotto’s considerations for safety.

The Howell Police Department issued a statement saying, “Both the operator of the vehicle, his pregnant wife and the officer were calm, respectful and courteous to one another.”

“We commend them [the Steinfelds] for their respectful demeanor under the circumstances.

“However, the officer acted appropriately, and any suggestion that the officer’s conduct was improper, unprofessional or inhumane simply contradicts the video evidence.

“We are happy to hear the occupants arrived safely at the hospital and had a successful delivery. We wish them the best.”

The Epoch Times reporter Chris Jarusek contributed to this report.