Today, he ran 3 consecutive red lights and didn’t stop when I put on my patrol car’s lights. I followed him all the way across town to the hospital with the intention of arresting him. He stopped and ran inside, ignoring my calls to surrender. I ran after him, into the emergency room, where his 4-year-old son was bleeding to death after being hit by a car. I said a prayer and walked away. MMT

Comments

It's awesome, if this is real, that the original poster isn't one of those jerk cops who would probably have arrested the guy anyways.

Makes me think he's lucky he didn't cause a car accident like the one that killed his son. The cop should've done his job and the father shouldn't have acted so stupidly.

I agree with you !00%, antilegomena. He could have caused another accident and caused someone else's child to bleed to death. OP was nice but he/she still should have arrested him. Do your job, OP. You might prevent a death like that man's son's in the future.

To suggest that the cop should have arrested a man who ran red lights because he was trying to save his dying son is absurd. It seems pretty clear that the little boy didn't have the time for his father to wait at red lights. A human life ranks well above the laws of traffic. I commend this officer for making the ethical decision. I will admit that it would have been better if the cop had used his sirens to clear traffic for the guy's car, but it didn't sound like there was anyway he could have known that there was an injured person in the car. Anyway, how did you expect him to "do his job"? The sirens were already on; what more could he have done, save tap the car's bumper so the driver lost control?

To suggest that the cop shouldn't have arrested him is even MORE absurd. The father could have easily caused another accident and badly injured someone else and himself, like ThatPerson said. Furthermore, "because he was trying to save his dying son" doesn't make sense. What could the father POSSIBLY do? His son was bleeding to death, and driving recklessly through traffic wouldn't "save" his life or anything.

He wasn't trying to save his dying son, he was merely trying to arrive at the hospital before his son died. There is a difference, but I do agree with this cop's action. Think about it: nobody was hurt and it's very likely that the man will never drive like that again. If somebody had been hurt, then this would be another situation entirely, but nobody was and this is almost certainly the first and last time that the father will endanger others' lives in that way.

Wouldn't it be faster and safer for the *cop* to drive them there with sirens blazing? Probably worth the few seconds to transfer. The father acted without thinking - perhaps understandable, but still dumb.

Yeah the father could've gotten a police escort. Can't belive how many comments defend his dangerous behavior. Traffic laws protect public safety, i.e., human life, ForestFire. Because nobody was hurt we should let this go? So if the father wants to drive drunk and makes it home all right, it's probably okay if he does it again? It's a terrible, sad, scary situation he was in. But that didn't give him the right to endanger others.

No, it doesn't make it okay, but it's nothing like driving drunk. The father isn't suddenly exempt from traffic laws, but it's not as if he will ever be in a position like this again. What are the chances that he'll ever need to rush to the hospital to be with his dying son again? Now what are the chances that somebody who drives drunk will drive drunk again? Completely different scenarios.

The father believes the law is relative to his personal problems. Obviously he cannot handle emergency situations clearheaded. Who knows how else he might act? Strange that we have to think of wanting to see your dying kid as selfish, but that's the point of the site, making you think. His needs came before everyone and everything else. Bottom line, as others agreed, he needed to stop for the cop and gotten an escort OR the cop should've issued a ticket at the hospital as formality and instructed him to plead No Contest. This is "stealing bread to feed your family." A crime is a crime. Would we be so quick to forgive if he killed someone else's son on the way down?

Personally, I think this i an excellent post, because it´s impossible not to understand the different reactions to the situation. While at first glance I felt compelled to sympathize for the dad and his dying son, I realized that his actions were wreckless and dangerous, possibly causing further damage. You cannot deny that there are circumstances which might make you consider doing wrong, like what the dad did. Personally, I think the man should have been cited since he broke the law, but it´s a small price to pay for attempting to save his son, and I think he was aware of that. It seemed logical to him.

I hope the person who ran over his son wasn't rushing to the hospital himself. Oh the irony.

Yeah, horsefeathers, I'm the jackass who believes that murder is never justified. That was revenge, plain and simple. This is different, very different. He didn't do this for revenge.

Sxebill, you completely disregarded the girl's desperation for closure and you presumptuously tried to interpret a situation you couldn't possibly imagine . Jackass.

This is a really interesting battle between Deontological and situational ethics. It's really obvious which person subscribes to which approach. This in itself MMT, since I, personally, as well as most of my friends take a situationally motivated approach to ethics, I forget how many deontologists there are.

During the summers of 1990, 1991, and 1992 I was molested at a summer camp in Indiana. Don't ever assume, Miss Phantom4. I did not disregard her desperation for closure and I did not attempt to interpret a situation I could not possible imagine, because I don't have to imagine that situation. If I were to face my abuser today, I would never take his life. I do not believe that I can ever forgive him, but I certainly would not kill him. I do not believe that murder for revenge is right or forgivable in any situation. Self defense is another matter, but revenge killings might as well be in cold blood. Now that you know my situation, I'll go ahead and delete my account if you still think I'm just here to provide my asinine and presumptuous opinions. Thank you for your time.

I apologize, Sxebill. I didn't realize that you had faced a similar tragedy. I feel your pain, and I'm sorry for your loss. But you must understand what it's like before healing comes, when pain and rage are still fresh in your mind, body, and soul. As human beings we don't consider the frailty of another human life when we are consumed by our own suffering. It doesn't make us bad people, just like a father is not a bad person when he drives like a maniac to be with his dying son. Just like a woman is not a bad person when she is scared and alone and believes only one choice can end her agony. It's not in any way an acceptable way of dealing with pain, but as a human being (who I now can relate too more than I knew) you must understand the complexity of a suffering mind.

Okay, so when she broke the law it was wrong because she was taking revenge. And when this dad broke the law it's okay because he wanted to see his son. My point was that they both broke the law and risked other people's lives - only she directly took one and the dad could have indirectly but didn't. Way to be a fu¢king martyr because someone on the internet criticizes your opinion.

Horsefeathers....who are you referring to as a "martyr?"

I believe that I would be the 'martyr'. I'm not trying to make myself a martyr to validate my opinion, I was trying to illustrate that I wasn't just spouting my stupid and uneducated opinions. If you're going to be so incredibly antagonistic against me that I'll be going now because I thought for sure that this website would have people on it who wouldn't react so aggressively when I spoke of the worst period of my life. I was certain that this wasn't like FMyLife.

*then I'll be going now

I admit to coming back to this thread to check the progress of your arguments, but I think you are all taking this a bit too seriously and maybe too personally as well. This website was not meant to be a forum for attacking people´s views, but for promoting *courteous* discussion. Please just forgive.

It's so easy for people to judge other people. Have you ever had a child die? Have you ever been called to an emergency situation? You can't think straight in this type of situation. Although he should have considered the danger he was putting himself and other people in, I'm sure anyone in this mans situation would have done the same thing. I commend the police officer for understanding the situation before giving the man a ticket or pursuing further action. Know a person's story and where they are coming from before judging them, or in this case, ticketing them!

You all need to stop arguing. The fact that rules were broken without consequence is not the point of the story at all. I pray for this father, his family, and especially his young son, and if he son did succumb to his injuries, may he rest in peace.

I don't care if the police officer acted inappropriately, or if the father did, or if they both did, I just hope with all my heart everything turned out okay.

Whether or not he 'should have' been arrested is irrelevant to the actions of the police officer -- he saw the man's situation and empathized with him. Yeah, it'd be ironic if the father hit someone and put that victim in the same predicament his son was in, but I'm willing to assume that the father is a law-abiding citizen that was ONLY acting out of the need to drive his son to the hospital. I'm not going to blame him or condemn him for it. He obviously wasn't a reckless driver, which is why the cop didn't seek to punish him. Once the cop realized he was in a hurry for a very specific reason, he let him go.

I feel the best thing to do was issue the ticket as a formality, and the father could fight it in court and probably would have been acquitted. And yes, I have lost a young child, so before anyone gets defensive about how I've never been there I have in fact known the pain the father potentially faced. But in the end it doesn't fight that he did many dangerous things and put himself above the law. There was an officer right there and police escort would have been best. And what happened to the person who hit the child? Did the father just let him go in order to take his kid to the hospital? And as far as I know, moving a severely injured person causes more harm than good. A lot of things can dislodge and be fatal.

I can't believe you are all having an argument about this. That's the absurd thing about this. Made me cry, OP and MMT.

Completely agree with jt. Try to put yourself in the man's situation...you get word that your 4 YEAR OLD son is in the hospital bleeding to death. You obviously can't think straight and are probably in a state of panic. Any of you caring fathers out there should know that you would do the same thing.

God bless you, sir.

God bless. And his son was bleeding profusely. If he didn't hurry, he would have died. You people have no hearts. >:(

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