No matter how good a pre-natal class, everyone knows it cannot prepare new parents for everything.
In the case of Dana and James Reiner, it did nothing to help them to deal with two police officers who stopped them while they were on their way to the hospital.
Dana was in late labour, time was of the essence.
They passed Sergeant Anthony Dandurand and Travis Thomas on the way when the cops expected them to pull over.
Understandably, James kept on driving and around 1.1 miles later stopped after Dandurand activated his emergency lights.
James intended to tell the officers that his wife was about to give birth.
His 1994 Lincoln Town Car’s window was stuck and would not roll down, so he opened his door to explain why he was in a hurry.
He hardly got the chance to do so because as soon as he stepped out the policemen forced him to the ground at gunpoint and then handcuffed him.
The confused man did not resist but the officers kept threatening to use the Taser on him.
It took a full seven minutes of pleading from the couple before the cops called an ambulance.
James could not accompany his wife because he had been arrested on probable cause felony resisting law enforcement. Charges were never filed.
Dana was rushed to the hospital in Crown Point, where she gave birth within minutes of arriving.
The baby’s umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck and the doctor had to pause the birth twice to unwrap it. The doctor later told Dana that baby Abigail would not have survived, had she been born on the side of the road.
In an audio recording the policemen were heard discussing whether to delete the dash cam footage; they also talked about lying to the local prosecutor.
They did end up making false claims anyway; Dandurand said he chased James for 5 miles before he stopped. The sergeant corrected himself later in a court filing.
The case was taken to court and at the US District magistrate judge ruled that the Reiners’ constitutional rights had been clearly violated.
The officers should have never detained the couple when it became clear that Dana was in labour.
Magistrate Judge Paul Cherry did not take kindly to the fact that James was arrested and taken to jail for the night.
He added that the fourth Amendment had indeed been breached.
Both officers have been let off the hook with a simple slap on the wrist and continue to work for the police department.
Dandurand is a now a K-9 officer.
In fact, Portage Police Chief Troy Williams says he is an ideal cop.
“Officer Dandurand should not be demonized for one unfortunate incident in which several factors played into the outcome,” he commented.
Abigail Reiner is a healthy child and her parents dote on her – however, they will never be able to bring back precious moments that she could have shared with her father right after she was born.
“They missed out on that very first, that bond,” says Dana.
Watch the video below: