Pregnant Woman, Tackled And Arrested While In Labor, To Get Her Day In Court

Posted by Brian Fairbanks

 

Back in May, 2005, a 24-year-old woman in Jacksonville, Florida was arrested in a hospital emergency room after running red lights and refusing to wait while an officer ticketed her. The police tackled her to the ground and cuffed her, which is what they are trained to do.

Except there's a catch: Melanie Williams was in labor and bleeding, partly as a result of having been seven-and-a-half-months pregnant. Thankfully, she was later released and gave birth to a reportedly healthy boy.

We have to admit to not being in the least surprised to learn that Melanie Williams is black. Could that have been a factor in the decisions made by police? However, we'd also like to point out, had Williams just called 911 from her house and waited for an ambulance, this might never have happened-- although, we must add, we have to wonder whether she was afraid about the cost of the ambulance versus driving herself. Universal healthcare, anyone?

Obviously, she is now suing the shit out of everyone-- and it's hard to imagine a jury not feeling sympathetic to the plight of a woman in labor screaming about being pregnant and bleeding while being handcuffed on a hospital floor. The cops fear a jury trial, as well-- until yesterday, they were fighting a lower court ruling that ordered them to face a civil suit. The two deputies claimed to have "immunity," which the appeals court judge scoffed at.

(One more irrelevant tidbit: the day Melanie Williams gave birth was Mother's Day.)

[Earlier version corrected for clarity.]

 

Related:

Moms Scaring Us By Taking Fake Babies Out For Walks, Meals

 

Dumbest Person Ever? Pregnant Woman Gives Birth on Rollercoaster

 

Today in WTF: Gay Teens Much More Likely To Get Pregnant


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Posted Jan 14 2009, 09:43 AM
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Comments

Marc said:

Why do you say you're not surprised that she's black?  What are you inferring?

 

Ed: Yeah, I can see how that would sound racist. The point was to not get into the racial question, but to just point out the fact that she is and to leave the speculation open to other people. I've clarified that paragraph to make it clearer that we're wondering if the way the police handled the situation was in any way affected because of her race. We've heard of similar traffic stops that led not to tickets but to police escorts. In all those cases, the pregnant woman was white.

That doesn't, of course, necessarily mean the fact that she was black caused the police to act like a bunch of psychopaths. There are lingering questions-- she definitely told them she was headed to the emergency room, but did she actually tell them that she was pregnant and bleeding? That may have changed things.

January 14, 2009 10:22 AM

Rosa said:

He means the cops would have given an full-siren escort to a pretty young white chick in the same position. Before I got to that part of the post, I knew she was going to turn out to be black. My friend just spent 2 days in jail on the ID of a guy who admitted he couldn't see the burglar's face, but said his shirt was the same color so it must be him. This was at a show-up vs. a line-up, totally discredited and add in the problem with cross-racial ID. He was miles away and had an alibi. He also had the nerve to be a black man riding a bike at night.

January 14, 2009 10:35 AM

Marc said:

Ah, thanks for the clarification.  It wasn't clear to me in the earlier wording whether the comment was an inference to the  cops' (possibly) questionable actions or something else.

January 14, 2009 10:58 AM

dippy_gumball said:

She might not have had a phone.  She might have thought that she was going to get there sooner driving herself, and she not have been thinking rationally.

January 14, 2009 11:03 AM

Brian Fairbanks said:

Although I didn't mention it in the story, it was reported that she called 9-1-1 while driving, although the cops didn't know that.

January 14, 2009 11:10 AM

sincupcake said:

I'm 7 and a half months pregnant right now....there's no WAY you'd be able to pull me over in that state and not hear the words "I'm pregnant and bleeding" exit my mouth before I'd even gotten the window rolled down all the way.  also...you'd have to be blind not to notice that someone is pregnant at this stage, this has dirty cop written all over it.

January 14, 2009 5:29 PM

About Brian Fairbanks

Brian Fairbanks, the Senior National Political Correspondent for Nerve, is a filmmaker living in Brooklyn or New Orleans, depending on the season. He is a heavily-armed advocate of gun control.

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