Cops Pull Gun on Couple Driving to the Hospital to Give Birth

The father spent the night in jail and missed his daughter's birth.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Horrifying dashcam footage recently surfaced of an Indiana cop pulling over a couple on their way to the hospital—then pulling his gun on them. In January 2012, James Reiner was driving his wife, Dana, to the hospital after her water broke. On the way there they passed a police car, which turned on its lights and pulled them over, despite the fact that they weren't speeding.

Reiner tried to explain to the officer, Sergeant Anthony Dandurand, that his wife was in labor and they were on their way to the hospital, but Dandurand responded by yelling repeatedly at Reiner to "get on the fucking ground" and cuffed him while another officer, Travis Thomas, stood over Reiner with his gun pointed at him. 

Dana Reiner then tried to show the officers that her water had broken and she was in labor—you can hear her pleas in the video—but they pointed their weapons at her and demanded she get "back in the fucking car." Luckily an ambulance arrived at the scene and transported Dana to the hospital where she gave birth to a healthy baby girl named Abigail. According to the Times of Northwest Indiana, "Her doctor paused the delivery twice to turn Abigail and unwrap her umbilical cord from around her neck. Dana Reiner said the doctor told her that her baby would have died had she given birth on the side of the road." 

James Reiner missed the birth completely because he was in jail on the charge of "resisting law enforcement," although no charges against him were ever filed. He and Dana have filed a lawsuit against the city of Hebron, Ind., and against both Dandurand and Thomas. 

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