Bob CollinsAt least in Fergus Falls, Minn., pleading with a police officer who stopped you that you’re on your way to the hospital because your wife is in labor won’t work.
Just ask Dennis Fronning of Battle Lake, Minn., who is suing the Fergus Falls police department and two officers because he missed the birth of his son.
According to the Fergus Falls Daily Journal, Fronning was rushing to the hospital after his wife experienced complications during home birth.
A police officer intercepted the car and escorted his wife to the ambulance, but detained Fronning.
When he got to the hospital, the lawsuit contends, the officer made Fronning stay in the waiting room.
Fronning is suing for damages in an amount greater than $50,000 for suffering — and continuing to suffer — mental pain and anguish, severe emotional trauma, embarrassment and humiliation from the incident that took place two years ago.
A response filed on behalf of the defendants argues that the officers acted lawfully and that any injuries or damage sustained by Fronning was the result of his own careless, negligent and unlawful conduct.
“The defense has a much different understanding of the facts and the law than Mr. Fronning does,” the lawyer for the defendants, Daniel Kurtz, wrote in an email. “We believe the record will show that the officers, along with an ambulance crew, intervened in a medical emergency and the officers then safely led that ambulance to the hospital. Without the officers’ intervention, this incident could have had tragic consequences, and we fully anticipate that the officers and the city will be exonerated.”
Fronning is suing for “an amount greater than $50,000.
