Police Drop Charges Against Man Rushing Wife to Hospital

25 Comments

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) – Authorities in Chattanooga have dropped charges against a man who was cited by a police officer as he rushed his wife to a hospital, thinking she was having a stroke.

The arrest occurred just after midnight June 16 at Erlanger Hospital, where Jessie Wright had driven his wife Aline, who works there as a nurse.

In a news release Tuesday, Chattanooga Police said they were dropping charges of evading arrest, assault on a police officer, reckless endangerment, disorderly conduct and registration violation. The charges were placed by Officer James Daves after Wright ran two traffic signals on the way to the hospital.

Daves was suspended with pay on Monday, pending results of an investigation.

Flag as inappropriate

+10

skascooter007

almost 3 years ago

2010 Comments

bump chief
Anonymous

almost 3 years ago

If you see an officer behind you, and he tries to pull you over, stop and tell the officer the medical situation. A lot of officers are 1st responders or EMT'S. They may be able to provde some help. I don't think there is ever ANY reason not to stop if an officer tries to pull you over.
mlaco007

almost 3 years ago

238 Comments

With all that can be said, my family comes first!!!! Ranking officers will step aside.
wiseass0282

almost 3 years ago

10988 Comments

Bump Chief Dennis
SkoolCop

almost 3 years ago

4124 Comments

While I agree that there is not enough information supplied by any news agency covering this incident, I would be willing to bet that the alleged assault charge comes from Jessie Wright going past Officer Daves into the emergency room. That said, if I believed that my wife was having a stroke or any member of my family were having a similar and or other serious medical emergency that my driving them to the E/R would be faster than calling for a med-aid response, the officer better get out of my way. He/she and the department better hope that the delay in medical services did not result in the death of said family member just for the sake of writing a ticket.

His paid admin leave pending an IA investigation is normal. It will be interesting to see what the results of the IA investigation are and to see if there are additional days off that are unpaid. I know that the badge gives us a lot of authority but sometimes and in certain situations we need to take a step back and drop the ego. I would be willing to bet that when it is all said and done, this incident will amount to a simple case of "Contempt of Cop / Officer Daves" and hardly worth all of the drama negative attention that it has caused. At this point, dropping all of the charges was the right thing to do.
Anonymous

almost 3 years ago

Well from what details we did get, it seems like they did the right thing in dropping the charges against the guy. I didnt catch the part where he assaulted to officer in the first story. But no, no excuse for that one. I dont understand why they didnt opt for desk duty for this officer while scheduling him in for some re- training, instead send him home with pay...
LAWMANTUKES

almost 3 years ago

6558 Comments

"Bump" mccord17....
Anonymous

almost 3 years ago

This story is a total waste of time, not enough information to tell, a medical emergency is never an excuse to drive recklessly, the story might read "2 die in fatal accident on way to hospital" mccord17 i don't know of any agency around here that would do an escort of an individual in a POVfor liability reasons among others, do you do that in NM?
clobster

almost 3 years ago

1552 Comments

There are a lot of details missing here. Usually rushing your family member to the hospital is not an excuse for reckless driving. EMS exists for a reason. However, this guy might also live an hour from the hospital and have a volunteer department the only might come out to the call. Like I said, not many details.
nstroik706

almost 3 years ago

16 Comments

Bump TexasFred

You call it suspension, I call it vacation. I hate to do this but, I disagree with the officers decision...based solely on the information provided. There's always more to a story than we are told though.
uncledennis1

almost 3 years ago

22368 Comments

It is called damage control and it was the only right thing to do. This officer used no common sense in this incident. I feel his career is salvageable however, needs some training and possibly a few days suspension for his actions. He needs to be on a short string for awhile.
Jonas

almost 3 years ago

38534 Comments

I can understand dropping everything but "Assault on a Police Officer". This now paves the way for circumstance to rule instead of law. Now if you're in a hurry, just assault the Officer and be on your way. I'm sure there's more to the story, but what there is so far STINKS. I'm glad Officer Daves is still getting paid.
Anonymous

almost 3 years ago

the officer should have asked more questions and escort them safely to the hospital. If its a true emergency how could you arrest someone for doing what you would if it was your wife......
Irishcop1961

almost 3 years ago

37000 Comments

I will wait until the rest of the story comes out here.
Drummadude

almost 3 years ago

204 Comments

Who waits around 10-15 minutes for an ambulance to come? Citing someone who was trying to get to the hospital in an emergency is outrageous.