Defiant father 'stunned' while holding newborn ...
... and dropped his newborn on his head. Bad, bad, bad, bad!
Man says daughter injured when security guards downed him in hospital
HOUSTON - In a confrontation captured on videotape, a hospital security guard fired a stun gun to stop a defiant father from taking home his newborn, sending both man and child crashing to the floor.
Now the man says the baby girl suffers from head trauma because she was dropped.
"I've got to wonder what kind of moron would Tase an adult holding a baby," said George Kirkham, a former police officer and criminologist at Florida State University. "It doesn't take rocket science to realize the baby is going to fall."
The April 13 episode began when William Lewis, 30, said he and his wife felt mistreated by staff at the Woman's Hospital of Texas so they decided to leave. Hospital employees told him doctors would not allow it, but Lewis picked up the baby and strode to a bank of elevators.
The elevators would not move because wristband sensors on each baby shut off the elevators if anyone takes an infant without permission.
Lewis, who gave the video to The Associated Press, said his daughter landed on her head, but it cannot be seen on the video. He said the baby continues to suffer ill effects from the fall.
"She shakes a lot and cries a lot," Lewis said, noting doctors have performed several MRIs on the child, Karla. "She's not real responsive. Something is definitely wrong with my daughter."
It was not clear whether the baby received any electrical jolt.
Baby in protective custody
Child Protective Services has custody of the baby because of a history of domestic violence between Lewis and his wife, Jacqueline Gray. The infant does not appear to be suffering any health problems from the fall, agency spokeswoman Estella Olguin said.
David Boling, an off-duty Houston police officer working security at the hospital, and another security guard can be seen on the surveillance video arriving at the elevators and trying to talk with Lewis. Lewis appears agitated as he walks around the elevators holding his daughter in his right arm.
Within 40 seconds of arriving, Boling is holding the Taser. He walks around Lewis and whispers to the other guard, who moves to Lewis' right side.
About a minute later, Boling can be seen casually standing near Lewis, not looking in his direction, when he suddenly raises the Taser and fires it at Lewis, who was still holding his daughter.
Lewis drops to the floor. The other guard, who has not been identified, scoops up the baby and gives her to the child's mother, who was standing nearby in a hospital gown.
The guard then pulls Lewis to his feet with his arms locked behind him. Lewis' T-shirt has two holes under the left side of his chest where the Taser prongs hit him.
Lewis said he did not see the stun gun.
"My wife said we want to leave and then he just Tasered me," Lewis said. "He caused me to drop the child."
Hospital defends actions
In a statement, the hospital said Lewis was hostile and uncooperative toward staff members who were trying to find out his relationship to the infant when they saw him trying to leave. Neither Lewis or Gray had indicated they wanted a discharge, according to the statement.
"Mr. Lewis became verbally abusive by using vulgar expletives. When Mr. Lewis' behavior became threatening, endangering the infant and employees, licensed law enforcement officers followed their professional standards to protect those involved," the statement said.
Lewis was arrested and charged with endangering a child. A grand jury in May declined to indict him on that charge, but charged him with retaliation, accusing him of making threats against Boling.
Lewis also has been charged with a second count of retaliation alleging he made a threatening call to Boling at his home.
Lewis denies both charges. He said he is considering suing the hospital but has not filed any legal papers.
Houston police spokesman Gabe Ortiz said the department did not investigate the officer's role, and he declined to elaborate. Boling did not immediately respond to a request for comment given to the police department.
Some 11,000 U.S. law enforcement agencies use Tasers, which some experts say are increasingly being used as a convenient labor-saving device to control uncooperative people.
"The Taser itself is a legitimate law-enforcement tool," Kirkham said. "The problem is the abusive use of them. They're supposed to be only used to protect yourself or another person from imminent aggression and physical harm. They're overused now."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20266747/?gt1=10252
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Man says daughter injured when security guards downed him in hospital
HOUSTON - In a confrontation captured on videotape, a hospital security guard fired a stun gun to stop a defiant father from taking home his newborn, sending both man and child crashing to the floor.
Now the man says the baby girl suffers from head trauma because she was dropped.
"I've got to wonder what kind of moron would Tase an adult holding a baby," said George Kirkham, a former police officer and criminologist at Florida State University. "It doesn't take rocket science to realize the baby is going to fall."
The April 13 episode began when William Lewis, 30, said he and his wife felt mistreated by staff at the Woman's Hospital of Texas so they decided to leave. Hospital employees told him doctors would not allow it, but Lewis picked up the baby and strode to a bank of elevators.
The elevators would not move because wristband sensors on each baby shut off the elevators if anyone takes an infant without permission.
Lewis, who gave the video to The Associated Press, said his daughter landed on her head, but it cannot be seen on the video. He said the baby continues to suffer ill effects from the fall.
"She shakes a lot and cries a lot," Lewis said, noting doctors have performed several MRIs on the child, Karla. "She's not real responsive. Something is definitely wrong with my daughter."
It was not clear whether the baby received any electrical jolt.
Baby in protective custody
Child Protective Services has custody of the baby because of a history of domestic violence between Lewis and his wife, Jacqueline Gray. The infant does not appear to be suffering any health problems from the fall, agency spokeswoman Estella Olguin said.
David Boling, an off-duty Houston police officer working security at the hospital, and another security guard can be seen on the surveillance video arriving at the elevators and trying to talk with Lewis. Lewis appears agitated as he walks around the elevators holding his daughter in his right arm.
Within 40 seconds of arriving, Boling is holding the Taser. He walks around Lewis and whispers to the other guard, who moves to Lewis' right side.
About a minute later, Boling can be seen casually standing near Lewis, not looking in his direction, when he suddenly raises the Taser and fires it at Lewis, who was still holding his daughter.
Lewis drops to the floor. The other guard, who has not been identified, scoops up the baby and gives her to the child's mother, who was standing nearby in a hospital gown.
The guard then pulls Lewis to his feet with his arms locked behind him. Lewis' T-shirt has two holes under the left side of his chest where the Taser prongs hit him.
Lewis said he did not see the stun gun.
"My wife said we want to leave and then he just Tasered me," Lewis said. "He caused me to drop the child."
Hospital defends actions
In a statement, the hospital said Lewis was hostile and uncooperative toward staff members who were trying to find out his relationship to the infant when they saw him trying to leave. Neither Lewis or Gray had indicated they wanted a discharge, according to the statement.
"Mr. Lewis became verbally abusive by using vulgar expletives. When Mr. Lewis' behavior became threatening, endangering the infant and employees, licensed law enforcement officers followed their professional standards to protect those involved," the statement said.
Lewis was arrested and charged with endangering a child. A grand jury in May declined to indict him on that charge, but charged him with retaliation, accusing him of making threats against Boling.
Lewis also has been charged with a second count of retaliation alleging he made a threatening call to Boling at his home.
Lewis denies both charges. He said he is considering suing the hospital but has not filed any legal papers.
Houston police spokesman Gabe Ortiz said the department did not investigate the officer's role, and he declined to elaborate. Boling did not immediately respond to a request for comment given to the police department.
Some 11,000 U.S. law enforcement agencies use Tasers, which some experts say are increasingly being used as a convenient labor-saving device to control uncooperative people.
"The Taser itself is a legitimate law-enforcement tool," Kirkham said. "The problem is the abusive use of them. They're supposed to be only used to protect yourself or another person from imminent aggression and physical harm. They're overused now."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20266747/?gt1=10252
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Wow, I can't believe they did that while he was holding an infant. 0 -
i saw the video, it looks like he shot the taser pretty fast with no thought
i can understand perfectly why the father wanted to take his kid home, i have seen some pretty lousy health care facilities
i can understand the security doing their job not knowing what was going on, but i think it was very poorly done0 -
In my short time working in security i have found that most situations can be resolved by just talking. We sometimes have electricians, plumbers etc... come to the building to do work, most of them have never been there, but we have a few regulars who come all the time. The new ones just want to walk right through the lobby and get to work, but then i explain to them that they have to wait while i handle all the procedures to let them even get out of the lobby and into the actual building. 0 -
...Bad judgement on the "want-to-be's" part but...the Dad was not following check-out procedures and...appears there was a question of the parents fittness/home the infant was going to be taken to, all their kids are in custody of child protective folks...no excuse for this jerks actions though!...WTH is this rent-a-cop doing carryng a tazzer??...[;)] 
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This guy makes all SECURITY OFFICERS look bad. Were not all wannabes, and were not all rent-a-cops. 0 -
Hospitals take the security in the new born area very seriously. At our, you have to be buzzed in and out. No elevators, but there are fire doors. Sounds too me that their might have been some ignorance/arrogance on the fathers part. Yes the parents have the right to take the child to another hospital, but come on. "We're leaving now!" might not be the best attitude. I would pity the next doctor this guy goes too. I wouldn't want to be that doc with such a guy as a client.
It's easy to read the worst into the hospital's security guard actions, but I'm also reading the worst into the father's actions.0 -
The guy got tasered with his kid in his arms.....and they turned it around on him pretty good.
They said he used vulgar language....thus justifying the tazing. Probably didn't have enough money or insurance for another night for the wife and kid in the hospital....understandable.
After he got tasered.....he probably got up and said he was going to kick some rear.....understandable. He even was mad enough to call the guy and say he was going to kick his rear. Still understandable.
But he needs to quit running his mouth and hire a lawyer.
He ain't going to have any hospital bills for the rest of that kids life.0 -
Hospitals, security guards, child protective services.
The trifecta of self importance...
I hope the guy gets a zillion dollars.0 -
quote:Originally posted by SuburbanNoize
This guy makes all SECURITY OFFICERS look bad. Were not all wannabes, and were not all rent-a-cops.
but, but
http://forums.gunbroker.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2581410 -
Ummm, bad, bad business/karma, dude!
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quote:Originally posted by COLT
...Bad judgement on the "want-to-be's" part but...the Dad was not following check-out procedures and...appears there was a question of the parents fittness/home the infant was going to be taken to, all their kids are in custody of child protective folks...no excuse for this jerks actions though!...WTH is this rent-a-cop doing carryng a tazzer??...[;)]
Read the story, the guy was an off duty Houston police officer. I see off duty's all the time around here working in stores and theaters to make extra dough. He must have been trained on the tazzer, but it seems cops are quick to use those things anymore. Where they wouldn't fire a gun at someone they will whip out the tazzer and shock them.0 -
Can any one post the vid? Thanks. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by COLT
...Bad judgement on the "want-to-be's" part...WTH is this rent-a-cop doing carryng a tazzer??...[;)]
Whatever makes you feel better about yourself. I'd rather be a "want-a-be" than someone who apparently can't read. The "shooter" was an off duty cop.
Since you're an expert on non-violent crisis intervention I'd like your thoughts on how to deal with a hostile man holding a newborn.....Tazer him and take the chance on him dropping the baby....or fight him and risk the baby being dropped AND having 1-2 men fall on it in a struggle
A bad situation all around, no doubt.....But the father is entirely responsible for this, signing out of a hospital isn't difficult0 -
quote:Originally posted by 1911a1fan
quote:Originally posted by SuburbanNoize
This guy makes all SECURITY OFFICERS look bad. Were not all wannabes, and were not all rent-a-cops.
but, but
http://forums.gunbroker.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=258141
A wannabe would be some one who acts like a cop while working as a security officer, i dont, i had aspirations of being a police officer, but ive changed it to Corrections Officer.0 -
quote:Originally posted by mateomasfeo
Hospitals, security guards, child protective services.
The trifecta of self importance...
I hope the guy gets a zillion dollars.
+ 1 what a thoughtless dumbazz0 -
Here's a link to the video.
It was an off-duty cop who did the tazzering.
Must be making Bondai's day.
Edit: Sorry. Direct link to video didn't work. Click on this link, scroll down to "videos".
http://www.miamiherald.com/0 -
Morons come in all jobs, but a moron welder or electrician doesn't have "The Thin Blue Line" protecting him and is usually fired before he kills himself or someone else.
The lack of judgement/common sense of the security guard qualifies him as "MORON".0 -
I feel sorry for the baby. She could have permanent damage. [V]
Bad decision by BOTH adults.0 -
quote:Originally posted by mateomasfeo
Hospitals, security guards, child protective services.
The trifecta of self importance...
I hope the guy gets a zillion dollars.
X-ring mateo!0 -
We had to bust my second child out of the hospital when he was born. I still want to punch that doctor. 0
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