Woman gives birth in car before police pull her over at gunpoint

[emad]

Thursday, March 31, 2005 Posted: 8:03 AM EST (1303 GMT)

KETTERING, Ohio (AP) -- A woman rushing to a hospital to give birth hit a few stops along the way -- first at a gas station where she delivered the baby herself, then when confused police ordered her out of the car at gunpoint.

Debbie Coleman, whose 3- and 4-year-old daughters were asleep in the back seat, pulled over at a gas station just after midnight Tuesday.

"I asked if she needed help, and she just leaned back in the seat, hollered a little, and I looked down and there was the baby's head," said station co-owner Lloyd Goff, who was alerted to the emergency at pump No. 7 by a customer.

Goff said Coleman "threw her leg over the steering wheel, groaned once, and the rest of the baby came out.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/03/31/station.delivery.ap/index.html

[qanda]

1. Why didn't she wait for help to arrive?

I guess she panicked, but she really put her new baby in a lot of danger.

[CBGLuthier]

3. even when "help" arrived

The cops pulled her over at gunpoint and after confirming she gave birth, they sent her on her way to the hospital.

Not exactly a lot of help were they?

[qanda]

6. Well, you do make a very good point

Incompentence all around!

[Mizmoon]

7. I'm sure they were all totally freaked out

it is a VERY odd story ...

[montana_hazeleyes]

9. When I read "sent her on her way "I just couldn't believe it!

Why didn't they call an ambulance or take her themselves? And what about the safety of the other two children.

I may get flamed for saying this , but I wonder if this woman is a member of society that isn't much cared about, especially by police officers. Sorry, this just makes me wonder.

[booksenkatz]

12. No flames here, montana

There is no doubt in my mind that if this unfortunate woman had been driving a Mercedes or a Jag, she would have had a full police escort to the hospital! She is either a woman of color or a white woman of low economic status. She is NOT a rich white woman... if she is, I'll send a donation to the charity of her choice for my being mistaken, but I don't think I am!
:toast:

[MountainLaurel]

18. You're dead on

I too would bet today's paycheck that she's in one of those groups that police see as the enemy or as not worthy of their services.

[htuttle]

13. "wait"?

Ever seen a childbirth? Been in the same room?

There's no 'wait' when it comes to birthing. It will happen when it's going to happen. (and in my experience, it usually doesn't happen soon enough!).

[qanda]

17. That's been my experience also

I had two. I wasn't saying that she should have waited to have the baby (an impossibility), I was saying that after the baby was born she should have waited for help to arrive. Driving under those conditions was dangerous.

Just to clarify, I'm not trashing her-- I think she panicked and did the first thing that came to her mind to do, but it probably wasn't the best choice. And as another poster pointed out, the police didn't act rationally either.

[Bouncy Ball]

19. WAIT?

You do realize when a baby comes, it comes. There's no waiting. It shows up on its own timetable, no one else's.

[Selteri]

2. Her wisdom was questionable... but ordering her out at gunpoint is

completely nuts.

[LiberallyInclined]

4. not only that-

"Officers sent Coleman on and let the hospital know she was coming."

they couldn't be bothered to give her a police escort? when she was driving holding the baby with the umbilical cord still attached?

btw-why wasn't she ticketed for not putting the baby in a child safety seat?

[teenagebambam]

5. Bwahahaha!

I'm practically peeing myself trying not to audibly laugh at the baby seat line!

[KittyWampus]

8. Oh Man, So Not Funny... But Yet I Am Laughing.

edit, lots of bad judgement calls in this story.

[atommom]

10. Well, sometimes labor can go very, very fast...

especially for women who've given birth before. I doubt she planned to pop the baby out at the gas station. She probably expected to make it to the hospital first! Once it's time for the little buggers to come out, there's not much you can do to stop them. :shrug:

[meganmonkey]

11. The little guy is in intensive care...

I wonder why? It seems so wierd that they just sent her on her way instead of helping her...anyone smell a lawsuit?

[soup]

14. It didn't happen in Florida!

Finally... something, anything.

---

Very weird story.

The article didn't say why the baby was in the intensive care unit. Hope he's going to be ok.

[depakid]

15. What the hell is wrong with places like Ohio?

and Florida?

Is there some sort of collective insanity that goes along with living there? Maybe it's just that the media focuses their attention on those states a lot- but it sure seems like whenever I hear about some bizarre behavior these days, I can count on it coming out of Florida or Ohio.

[glitch]

16. To serve and protect...

This one really infuriates me.

[miss_kitty]

20. I know it's probably 2nd nature to assume the cops were assholes here

but it could have been a dispatcher that fucked up communications, or a 911 operator. I have a friend who works around cops, and in addition to the cops being a bane to her existance-the real prize goes to the call center. Those people in her department are the laziest assholes in Central Cali, and she and the public she serves suffer for it.

[glitch]

21. While it's true that the disintegration of our civil contract is not LBN

is it really Lounge material?

[genieroze]

22. We need a new forum. Civil rights and liberties issues forum. eom

[genieroze]

23. What, no taser? eom