Judge Rules Couple’s Rights Were Violated During Aggressive Arrest While Man’s Wife Was In Labor
 In 2012, Dana Reiner was in labor as her husband, James Reiner, made the best attempt to get her to the hospital as quickly as he could. On their way they passed two police officers who proceeded to pulled them over for speeding, although James Reiner claims they were not speeding. Dana had not been in labor for long now and the dash cam video shows they drove about 1.1 miles before finally pulling over. James proceeded to open the car door to tell the officer his wife was in labor. At that moment James was forced to the ground at gunpoint, handcuffed, and left there for seven minutes face down on the ground. All the while his wife pleaded to the officers to let her husband go; the officers ignored her pleading, however eventually calling for an ambulance.
Upon arrival to the hospital Dana gave birth to daughter Abigail. The doctor had to pause the delivery multiple times 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 if she had given birth on the side of the road. James was not present for his daughter’s birth; he had been arrested on probable cause felony and resisting law enforcement, even though charges were never filed. Aspects of the arrest made that night were troubling—the over-aggressiveness of officers, the threats to tase him after the fact that he was already handcuffed and not resisting. Moreover, officers were caught on audio recording stating that they would erase the dash cam footage and would be willing to lie to the local prosecutor. A judge ruled police were definitely wrong to arrest him.
Source:
Scout Finch “Judge Rules couple’s rights were violated during aggressive Arrest while man’s wife was in labor,” DailyKos, September 23, 2015, http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/09/23/1424087/-Judge-rules-couple-s-rights-were-violated-during-aggressive-arrest-while-man-s-wife-as-in-labor#
Student Researcher: Amanda Bodes, Indian River State College
Faculty Evaluator: Elliot D. Cohen, Ph.D., Indian River State College