FLA IS CRAZY:OFFICER TICKETS MD ON WAY TO DELIVER BABY

[BrklynLiberal]

Fort Lauderdale officer in trouble for ticketing doctor on way to deliver baby

March 29, 2005

FORT LAUDERDALE -- Frantic and disbelieving, Dr. Anthony Chidiac tried to explain to Officer William Lilliston that he had been speeding to get to a patient in the throes of childbirth.
Chidiac's motorcycle had been pulled over in the final block before reaching Holy Cross Hospital, traveling 35 mph in a 25 mph zone. Rather than let the doctor go, Lilliston handcuffed Chidiac and placed him in a patrol car.

The incident, documented in internal investigation records released Monday, has landed Lilliston in trouble with his bosses, who call his actions "inexcusable."
He faces a 16-day unpaid suspension for his lack of judgment in his treatment of the doctor, as well as an unrelated incident in which investigators say he improperly entered a private residence.
He faces charges of "conduct prejudicial disruptive to the good order of the department," among others.

<snip>
Chidiac told investigators he was driving his motorcycle on Northeast 22nd Avenue in March last year when Lilliston, a 15-year veteran, pulled him over. Chidiac told the officer that he had a delivery.
According to Chidiac, Lilliston replied, "What are you delivering, pizza?"

The officer noted that the speeder was slow to pull over. At one point, records show, he said something like, "If you're a doctor, I'm Mickey Mouse or Joe Blow."
Lilliston told investigators he thought Chidiac might have been an imposter, and said he didn't feel he had the right to look in Chidiac's gym bag to check his credentials.
"I didn't know if he was trying to hide something," said Lilliston, who said he feared for his safety.

Lilliston said he contacted the hospital to verify Chidiac's story and also was told there was no doctor to step in to deliver the baby. Rather than release Chidiac at that point, Lilliston drove him to the hospital and marched the doctor to the maternity ward with his motorcycle helmet still on and his hands cuffed behind his back.
A nurse urged the doctor to hurry because the baby's head was showing.

But Lilliston would not let the doctor change into his scrubs, witnesses said, until he could at least show a driver's license. Chidiac said the officer had not previously asked for his license, although Lilliston said he had made the request several times.
Finally out of the cuffs, the doctor delivered the baby 15 minutes later.
<snip>

more....
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-ccop29mar29,0,5004119.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

[jojo54]

1. I thought docs were exempt from tickets if they're rushing to ER

or delivering baby or trauma etc.?? Maybe I'm wrong. Any doctors in the house???

[Warpy]

4. Sensible cops give them an escort

This is just a bad cop and it sounds like he will be disciplined, if not fired outright, just what needs to happen. Let the system work.

(Oh, and the nurses are capable of catching the baby, so it wasn't an emergency unless there was a huge problem with the delivery)

[jojo54]

5. Yea, I know THAT scenario very well

The head nurse delivered my first baby (she's 29 now) 'cause the doctors' (there were FIVE of them) couldn't get their collective shit together. And of course, I had signed that stupid paper that says I can't sue. Bastards!

[eallen]

7. Anyone is exempt if there is good reason.

"Good reason" means something like an issue of life or limb, not being late for a business meeting. But even Joe Blow, rushing because his mother has fallen down the stairs and called him on her cell phone, should be assisted by the police officer, rather than ticketed. And usually, that will be the case.

[SteppingRazor]

2. Ah, my town.

How I love Fort Liquordale. Cops here are, um, a bit notorious, to say the least. There's a big scandal right now about them pumping up their arrest quotas with false arrests, and all sorts of other nastiness.

[opihimoimoi]

3. THAT COP IS SO LUCKY THE BABY DIDN'T HAVE BRAIN DAMAGE

as a result of the delay...He would be in JAIL by now....for extreme LOLOness of the 4th degree.

[vpigrad]

6. The doctor was breaking the law, and the cop was doing his job.

I don't understand some of the posts here that support the idea that people in the medical class are above the law. They aren't. We live in a democracy where every man is (well, should be) equal.

[eallen]

8. "Necessity" is a defense by ANYONE against criminal prosecution.

I'm not a lawyer, and I'm sure the details vary from state to state, but the general idea is that when extreme circumstances warrant, you might have to do something illegal that normally you wouldn't. For example, you see a child who fell climbing a tree and is hanging perilously and injured from a limb. Your neighbor owns a ladder. You don't. You break into your neighbor's garage, retrieve the ladder, and bring the child down, and take her to the hospital. Normally, that would be breaking and entering, and larceny. Your defense is "necessity."

Of course, before you go to practice this, give a thought or two that the circumstances really are extreme, that what you're doing really is necessary to save life or limb, and that there's not some simpler and legal mechanism to do this. In the above case, I would cross the street to the fire station and bring them to the scene. But circumstance or time might not allow such alternative in some cases.

[beyurslf]

9. So why wasn't he given a ticket for speeding and released?

I have had speeding tickets and never been handcuffed and placed in a patrol car for it.

[MadHound]

10. And gee, if it was your kid being delivered,

And the cop had pulled over your doctor, leaving you, your wife and child stranded for medical help, would you be so sanquine? I think not.

Police have the discretion to let somebody go if the person is breaking a minor law(such as speeding) for a good reason. Out here where I live, if a cop pulls over somebody(doctor or otherwise) who is rushing to a hospital for an emergency, the police will give them a full blown, high speed, sirens wailing escort.

This isn't about equality or doctors being above the law, this is about doing the sensible thing in an emergency situation. This policeman didn't, and his actions could have had dire consequences.

[spindoctor]

11. Exactly, that's the bottom line

Unless the MD was driving an ambulance with full colors, he had no business endangering other traffic by breaking the rules.

Besides, doctors used this excuse one too many times when caught speeding.