Indiana Police Assault Man, Point Gun at Wife in Labor, Then Discuss Destroying the Video

A dash cam video was released last week which shows a husband rushing to get his wife to the hospital after she has gone into labor. After they pass a pair of cops engaged in a traffic stop, those cops began chasing them. The husband, James Reiner, then called 911 and attempted to explain that it was an emergency and they were headed to the hospital because his wife, Dana, was in labor.

When the cops still failed to stop chasing them, James stopped the car and tried to yell to the officers the explanation. Instead of the cops understanding (or apparently even trying to understand) the nature of the situation, the couple were subjected to threats, physical abuse, and subsequent retaliation, including arrest in James’ case:

On August 28, 2013 James and Dana Reiner drove pass Hebron Police sergeants Anthony Dandurand and Travis Thomas’ cruiser. He gave the cop car a wide berth since the officers were completing a traffic stop. He was rushing to get Dana to the hospital to give birth to their second daughter when he saw the red and blue lights in his rearview mirror. James called 911 dispatch to explain the situation to the officers and turned on his hazard lights. Officers Thomas and Dandurand, however, continued to pursue the pair. After a mile Reiner pulled over and opened his car door, as the window wasn’t working. He tried to shouted to the officer over the sirens that his wife was in labor, but they weren’t interested.

Another great place on the internet to show your CopBlock love.

“I will shoot you, you piece of sh*t! Get on the ground!” One of the officers can be heard yelling in the video. Reiner’s head was shoved into the sidewalk as Dana cried out “I’m in labor.” When she got out to show the officers her water had broken and her pants were wet, she saw a red light from a gun’s laser sight on her stomach and was ordered to “get back in the f——- car,” she said.

“I thought ‘OK’, I’m not going to let them shoot my kid,” she told NWI Times. “I got back in the car.”

It took the officers 15 minutes to realize there actually was a medical emergency and another 20 minutes for the ambulance to arrive. Dana and James pleaded for help, but the officers weren’t interested. Instead, they can be heard in the video discussing how to erase the dashboard camera footage. During the stop, James said the officers threatened to taze him after he had been subdued for a while.

“You will be in jail tonight,” Dandurand told James. “And you will not be there when your child is born.” True to his word, James spent the night in Porter County Jail, missing the birth of his daughter. He was booked with a probable cause felony resisting law enforcement, but no formal charges were ever filed. When asked why the couple was pulled over, one of them replied “I wanted to get stupid.” (Emphasis added.)

The Reiners sued the Hebron police department. They said they were not speeding and that the stop was unlawful. Dandurand said he pursued the couple for five miles, but reversed course when the dashboard camera told a different story. Dana said she was devastated that her husband missed his daughter’s first few moments of life.

The real kicker to the story is that the cops involved then began openly discussing whether they should eliminate the dash cam footage, thereby making the evidence of their despicable actions disappear:

James Reiner said what disturbs him the most is the behavior of all the officers at the scene.

“They ask, ‘Do you want me to pull the tape? I know how to pull the tape.’ So they’re talking about destroying evidence. The problem is that there is no oversight. There’s zero,” he said. “There’s nobody randomly pulling tapes to make sure that they’re being professional. And that’s done in every profession.” (Emphasis added.)

It’s fortunate for the Reiners that the “Good Cops” showed up to protect and serve them when they were in need.

Indiana Police Assault Man, Point Gun at Wife in Labor, Then Discuss Destroying the Video is a post from Cop Block – Badges Don’t Grant Extra Rights