Woman who miscarried sues police after arrest

What a strange, sad story we have yet again. This time it was a woman who was pulled over, told the police she was pregnant and bleeding, and was taking in anway.

Is this yet another case of the growing police problem in this country? What are your thoughts on this?

www.msnbc.msn.com...

Well it seems she was pulled over for fake tags on her car which would raise some suspision of it being stolen but.............

I hope she wins her suit, not only that but I hope she causes the arresting officers their jobs for this. Maybe I'm a bit one sided on this issue for personal reasons when it comes to loosing a child in womb. But this women repeatedly told them she was pregnant and bleeding. Yet they ignored her pleas not only that but made light of them. WTH are they being paid for but to protect and serve.
Any other time when a car theif gets into a wreck they call for medical assistance but in this case she pulls over asks for help and is ignored.

So lets see ok she has groceries in her car also. Likely explination is she was at the store or had just gotten into her car when she realized she was bleeding. Why take the car to begin with if it has fake tags? Not a smart thing to do but possibly the store was just around the corner and it's the pregnant mothers only way to get there to get food in the cold. Should she be fined and punished for driving a car with fake tags and previous crimes commited? Yes, I have no problem with that side of the story nor her being arrested.
My problem is that while she was being detained and arrested she told them she needed medical attention and was ignored. Cops arrest ppl that are taken for immediate medical attention daily. Why not listen to this woman? If she is making a false claim it can be found out pretty quick the cops will still be with her while she is at the hospital.

These officers failed in their duities to serve and protect this time for sure. True the child might not have been able to be saved, some times the issues like this don't come up until it's too late far to late to save them. But this could have also just as easy been a early sign and they might have cost a life for ignoring a plea. The arresting officer was a FOUR year veteran thats not a very long time still considered pretty new, I would also be curious to see his past file on issues.

As mentioned above her being pulled over and an arrest being made I have no problem with. I have the problem when it comes to not seekig the medical help she was asking for from what seems to be the begining of the confrontation.
But as I mentioned I might be some what one sided on the issue at hand.

Raist

That is what is really the issue. When someone asks for medical help, they should get it. Regardless of what is happening. What got me the most is when they said the tape showed one of the officers response to the woman asking for help as, "I don't see how that's my problem!".

Is this really the attitudes we want the people who "protect" us to have?

I wish I was on the jury. She would get millions. The two cops should be brought up on criminal charges. To PROTECT and Serve my ass

I wonder what would have happened had it been a different situation.

Say the person being arrested grips their chest and claims chest pain. What if they showed many signs of a heart attack. What if said person was holding their head unable to do much else but drive to the hospital or talk claiming a severe head ache which could be a couple of different medical conditions.

Alot of what ifs will never get answered here. But this kind of thing just burns me up. Both cops just flat out ignored every thing the woman said and she was incredibly nice to them. In fact she was one of the perfect stop the kind of person every cop hopes for. She was polite, calm, and not resisting. Maybe it was her calmness that caused the cops to ignore her pleas but regardless of how a person is acting at the time if they are asking for medical help give it to them.

Being calm and polite should not bring one to think she is not telling the truth. It's a proven fact your better of to remain calm as best as possible in instances like that. If the woman has had any medical training that would be some thing she was trained to do is remain calm though not easy it would have been instinctive for her.

Personaly had I been driving and my wife was sitting next to me every thing else the same I'ld have kept driving. I'ld have hit the hazard lights and kept going they could have just followed me to the hospital and arrested me there.

Raist

Post transfer!

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As a resident of Kansas City, Missouri I can say with confidence that the behavior of these officers was quite abnormal for the KCPD. Typically the pigs are contained on the Kansas side of the metro area.

That being said, I think these two officers should be terminated and criminal charges brought against them. The jailers responsible for this woman should also be fired and charged.
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After I heard the video I can not take sides with the police . . . even if she was a person with a record . . . the plea for help should have come first.

I hope she makes a billion off those retards. They should be ashamed of themselves. Their behavior was disgraceful.

I don't know about a billion. That's my tax dollars afterall! But she definitely should be heavily compensated. I believe she's currently sueing for $25k for wrongful death and an unspecified amount punitive.

There are a few questions about the wrongful death. I am in no way a doctor, but how likely is it to stop a miscarriage? I have heard from an EMT that as she was already in the process of having a miscarriage, there was nothing that could be done to save the fetus. So on that grounds, the wrongful death may not have merit. I encourage anyone with more medical knowledge than I to correct this.

There was however a very real danger of the woman bleeding to death or suffering from infection. Obviously this didn't happen, but the officers are still guilty of assault in the very least.

I hope she goes to prison.

If they can find actual scientific evidence, beyond a doubt that the officers actions caused the baby to die, then let her win the suit. And still go to prison. Why is it I am always told to feel sorry for dumb!$^ ???? Kids life woulda been hell anyways.

Okay, a billion is a bit much, but she should definitely be compensated for the wretched treatment she received.

She may have been too far gone for the medical types to do anything, but who the hell are the cops to have refused her medical treatment? No one will really know if this miscarriage was preventable had she received proper medical care.

This incident disgusts me. Those people should be F I R E D

Edited to Add: apc, I dig the av.

[edit on 2/2/2007 by Landis]

I went to our local sheriff's office three times to file a report about a person stealing a large amount of cash and I still haven't got it done yet. They say that they don't know how to write it up. What are those fools getting paid to do???

I'm just glad that I don't have somebody trying to kill me....they may never get there.

One of the deputies that I know told me that it was hard to find anybody in law enforcement around here that is honest.

Simply outrageous.

Morons.

Originally posted by apc
I don't know about a billion. That's my tax dollars afterall! But she definitely should be heavily compensated. I believe she's currently sueing for $25k for wrongful death and an unspecified amount punitive.

There are a few questions about the wrongful death. I am in no way a doctor, but how likely is it to stop a miscarriage? I have heard from an EMT that as she was already in the process of having a miscarriage, there was nothing that could be done to save the fetus. So on that grounds, the wrongful death may not have merit. I encourage anyone with more medical knowledge than I to correct this.

There was however a very real danger of the woman bleeding to death or suffering from infection. Obviously this didn't happen, but the officers are still guilty of assault in the very least.

Actually, had she gotten to the hospital instead of being arrested, there are medicines that could have been given that could have potentially stopped the miscarriage, although she would have been on bedrest for rest of pregnancy had it been successful. It's a very timely thing. Plus, she's lucky she didn't bleed to death herself from the miscarriage. By the time they got her to the hospital, yes it was too late. Stopping the miscarriage in the earlier stages would not have been a guaranteed outcome though. Many women with those problems ended up miscarrying anyway. Sometimes the doctors are able to postpone the miscarriage long enough to inject steroid shots and later deliver a premature but live baby which has to be hooked up to neonatal care machines. Also, babies have survived before at that age of gestation after being born early if mother gets steroid shots to help with the baby's lungs.

Sometimes you can put things down to not being trained, but this . . .

This is unconscionable.

Unfortunately it's not all that uncommon for the police to ignore medical issues. I've worked in psychiatric hospitals for a number of years, and have been brought patients from jail in conditions that necessitated their immediate transport to the ER. One girl was even bleeding from the ears from being beaten, had a deep gash on her arm with some gauze slapped on, and they didn't bother to get her medical treatment. Another was in full-on DTs, which can be deadly if untreated.

Part of the solution would be at least some training about how to deal with situations like this, but more to the point I think the attitudes involved are appalling. As has been said . . . the police are charged with the responsibility to serve and protect . . . they should be taught to act like it.

Originally posted by Rockpuck
I hope she goes to prison.

If they can find actual scientific evidence, beyond a doubt that the officers actions caused the baby to die, then let her win the suit. And still go to prison. Why is it I am always told to feel sorry for dumb!$^ ???? Kids life woulda been hell anyways.

They can prevent this sort of thing even at signs of bleeding. Added stress of being arrested could have pushed things over the edge. Stress on a pregnant woman is a very touchy thing every thing the mother goes through the baby also goes through. When the mothers heart rate goes up so does the childs but it can take longer for the childs heart rate to go down.

Do you know this woman? How do you know this childs life would have been hell? Her only crimes were traffic violations and warrents for those vilolations yeah she sounds like a hard core criminal that would have give this child a bad life. Some times ppl make errors in judgement and turn around when they have children some times they do not. Her crimes realy warrent nothing more than supervised probation. I realy don't feel like paying for her to be in jail for traffic violations. Why not leave the room for a child molester in jail.

No one is asking you to feel sorry for any one BTW. There was nothing in the article asking for support from any one here or any where. Fact of the matter is you can see by veiwing the video these cops were morons that should loose their jobs and this woman should be compansated for her loss.

No one here can judge how this childs life might have been, not even if you know this woman because she might have been a great mother. Is this post full of maybes and what ifs? yep but so is the statement saying "the childs life would have been hell" stated as a fact.

So why is it that you "know" this childs life would have been hell? Or is this just a blow hard statment because she got arrested and must be a bad person?

Raist

The policemen should have taken her to the hospital, there's no excuse not have done so.

The department should pay, and pay a lot IMO.

Raist.

IF they prove... which they will take her side anyways just because the media tainted the case.. that the death was the fault of the officers.. then yes.. they should be fired.

The police are not doctors, they do not know what is wrong with her.. and no.. if you say you need to go to the hostpital they do not have to take you.. only if you are noticably injured.. and even then, people go to jail bloodied up all the time. if she didnt want to be arrested while pregant.... maybe she shouldn't have put fake tags on a most likely stolen car.

One thing that is going to win her case is that . . . the fetus was not still born . . . it survived the birth to die a after been born. . .

That means that it was born, this makes it a case for wrongful death even if so far the news had said that will not be a wrongful death case.

But . . . you never know.

Most likely stolen? The most common reason people put fake temp tags on their car is because they can't afford car insurance and therefore can't get plates. Next is that they are unable to produce identification to get insurance and tags i.e. illegal immigrants.

The first duty of an officer when dealing with a person who has requested medical attention is... drumroll... Get Them Medical Attention. At the minimum they radio for an ambulance to come and check the subject out. It's all in their training. The department does not allow them them to ignore a request for medical attention. The department knows they can get sued if an officer ignores such a request. Well, they ignored it... and now they're getting sued.

People here in town have been threatening the city with vigilante justice. These two officers will not be walking away... there will be heavy consequences.