Hospital Guards Stun Guns Man With Baby In His Arms

White Rain

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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 baby, 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 the University of California-Berkeley. "It doesn't take rocket science to realize the baby is going to fall."
The trouble began in April when Williams 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 seems injured since the episode. more at link http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,293274,00.html
 
Hmm. I would love to hear just how the staff was mis-treating these new parents. There had to be a reason they didn't want the baby to leave....

I hope the baby is ok though. Sounds like this is the first of what will probably be many bumpy rides.
 
Sounds like he is looking to sue the guard since he says it "seems" the baby is injured. How does one seem to be injured? Either you are or you aren't.
 
I'd bet there is a whole lot more to this story.

My guess is that this guy was either trying to take the baby without mom or had bullied her into saying they were leaving after the staff tried to intervene on her behalf.

If you read the whole story, it says the dad has already been in trouble with the law for endangering a child, and domestic violence with this woman. Since this happened, he's also been making threats against the guy who tasered him.

From the link:

Child Protective Services has custody of the baby because of a history of domestic violence between Lewis and his wife, Jacqueline Gray. Agency spokeswoman Estella Olguin said the infant seems in good health.

The hospital and the Houston Police Department did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment.

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.


I'm putting odds on drugs, and maybe the baby is even shaking and crying a lot b/c she is in withdrawal. His agitated pacing and the way he was holding the baby doesn't show concern for her, just a NEED to get out of that hospital and away from the people asking all those questions and watching them all the time.

The fact that the security guard picked the baby up and immediately handed her to her mother, while the other guy cuffed the dad, tells me that mom and dad were not on the same page. They obviously were afraid that the dad was going to hurt that baby.

Of course, if he had been in jail for the domestic violence charges to begin with...none of this would have happened. :bang:
 
angelmom, that's what I suspected. The staff may even have been trying to keep the mother from having to go directly home with this jerk.
 
Sounds like he is looking to sue the guard since he says it "seems" the baby is injured. How does one seem to be injured? Either you are or you aren't.
well, the guard shouldn't have tazed him but the baby should have also had a good medical exam (what about radiologic studies of the head?) to ensure that her little noggin is ok if she really did fall. the article says that she has had several MRI's... so hopefully, they have been able to rule out any major trauma (fracture, bleeds, ect).

you have to be really careful about tazers in hospitals... i mean, helloooo... there is oxygen there... heck, a lot of people from the outside are carrying portable oxygen on their person on them! you don't want to start a fire!
 
ok, the dad is saying she is not real responsive... here are my thoughts on that:

crack baby or
he's never been around newborns and had no idea that a newborn baby would sleep that much!
 
ok, the dad is saying she is not real responsive... here are my thoughts on that:

crack baby or
he's never been around newborns and had no idea that a newborn baby would sleep that much!

ITA.

Also, he says she cries a lot. DUH. :slap:

We were with my cousin and her husband over July 4th, and they had their 6 week old daughter with them. They just went on and on about how she cries all the time. She cried a little bit when she was hungry (until they got the bottle ready - it took forever!) and when she was tired (until she fell asleep in my arms - awww!). That's it. That's what babies do. What the hell did they think she was going to do? Sit up and recite poetry?

I had one with true colic, and I felt like saying, "I'll show you what crying a lot really looks like!" But I was nice. I bit my tongue. Amateurs.
 
ITA.

Also, he says she cries a lot. DUH. :slap:

We were with my cousin and her husband over July 4th, and they had their 6 week old daughter with them. They just went on and on about how she cries all the time. She cried a little bit when she was hungry (until they got the bottle ready - it took forever!) and when she was tired (until she fell asleep in my arms - awww!). That's it. That's what babies do. What the hell did they think she was going to do? Sit up and recite poetry?

I had one with true colic, and I felt like saying, "I'll show you what crying a lot really looks like!" But I was nice. I bit my tongue. Amateurs.


OMG your post made me laugh out loud. I feel bad saying this, but I really related to what you said... I see so many inexperienced parents (heck, I was one of the dumbest myself... I had my daughter as a teen. thank GOD I had my mother around!) and you verbalized exactly what I feel sometimes when the parents say stuff like "she's always awake" or "she won't sleep through the night" or "she cries all the time". It is a brand new, newborn baby, people! But hey, we're all new parents once... then I remember what those days were like, and parts of me want to go back there and relieve those sweet moments of having that first newborn child... (and parts never want to go back there again!). You're so right... amateurs!!! Second time around... and they will be the exact same way we are! Ha!
 
Sounds like he is looking to sue the guard since he says it "seems" the baby is injured. How does one seem to be injured? Either you are or you aren't.

Oh, how I wish that were true! I thought that too, until my daughter fell through a ceiling 12 feet, broke her back and got a closed head injury. The back healed, but all the MRI's and CT scans of her head show NOTHING - yet there is something wrong with my daughter if you knew her pre-accident and post accident. Of course the attorney of the homeowner's insurance company says "The MRI's say nothing is wrong" but every single person who knows my daughter says her behavior has changed, her personality and seizures that don't show up on an EEG as abnormal since the EEG is never taken when she is having a spell.

So - is she or isn't she hurt by the accident? Well, she is, and she isn't. Depends on if you are listening to her and know her, or if you are looking at test results that just can't see the weird little things that can happen to the brain in a fall.

Now, this baby might have something wrong with it, or might not, but they didn't have the baby long enough to notice behavioral changes before and after the accident, so if they are going to try to prove a case based on damages to the baby, they will have a difficult time.
 
I want to know how legally they could stop the father??

If the child was born addicted then the hospital would have to call DCF and have an emergency hearing. Short of that they have NO right to prevent a legal parent from taking the baby.

If they felt the baby was in medical danger they have to petition the court.
 
Hmm. I would love to hear just how the staff was mis-treating these new parents. There had to be a reason they didn't want the baby to leave....

I hope the baby is ok though. Sounds like this is the first of what will probably be many bumpy rides.

It wouldn't pay to automatically assume the hospital had a reason. Medical care today stinks. I once had a dentist tell me he wouldn't give me my daughter back unless I agreed to a retainer when he removed baby teeth. Needless to say he didn't get far with that one.

My daughter had her first baby at a VERY prestigious teaching hospital. There was no other word for it than BUTCHERY. I've had 6 kids and never saw the like of that mess. I was tempted to take my laboring daughter and LEAVE.
 
And one more thing, LOL, the guy with the tazer should be arrested and those things banned. How many stories have we heard about elderly peoople and pregnant women being tazed? Give some people a little power and a weapon and they go nuts. There should be a thorough psychological evaluation before you put any weapon in anyone's hands. Just take a look at our govt.
 
I'd bet there is a whole lot more to this story.

My guess is that this guy was either trying to take the baby without mom or had bullied her into saying they were leaving after the staff tried to intervene on her behalf.

If you read the whole story, it says the dad has already been in trouble with the law for endangering a child, and domestic violence with this woman. Since this happened, he's also been making threats against the guy who tasered him.

From the link:

Child Protective Services has custody of the baby because of a history of domestic violence between Lewis and his wife, Jacqueline Gray. Agency spokeswoman Estella Olguin said the infant seems in good health.

The hospital and the Houston Police Department did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment.

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.

I'm putting odds on drugs, and maybe the baby is even shaking and crying a lot b/c she is in withdrawal. His agitated pacing and the way he was holding the baby doesn't show concern for her, just a NEED to get out of that hospital and away from the people asking all those questions and watching them all the time.

The fact that the security guard picked the baby up and immediately handed her to her mother, while the other guy cuffed the dad, tells me that mom and dad were not on the same page. They obviously were afraid that the dad was going to hurt that baby.

Of course, if he had been in jail for the domestic violence charges to begin with...none of this would have happened. :bang:

If CPS has custody of the baby, how would the father know what she does and/or doesn't do? It would seem to me that CPS would know if the child has been injured or not... IMO, the father is just looking to make money.
 
Why does CPS have custody instead of the mother? Sounds like another scam going on there.
 
I once had a dentist tell me he wouldn't give me my daughter back unless I agreed to a retainer when he removed baby teeth. Needless to say he didn't get far with that one.

I'd have loved to have been a fly on the wall to see the look on your face when he said that to you!

I'm picturing an incredulous look at the very idea he'd even possibly be serious, crossed with a defiant "try it, and die." It looks good on you. :)
 
It wouldn't pay to automatically assume the hospital had a reason. Medical care today stinks. I once had a dentist tell me he wouldn't give me my daughter back unless I agreed to a retainer when he removed baby teeth. Needless to say he didn't get far with that one.

My daughter had her first baby at a VERY prestigious teaching hospital. There was no other word for it than BUTCHERY. I've had 6 kids and never saw the like of that mess. I was tempted to take my laboring daughter and LEAVE.

My assumption comes from the father's attitude. Of course we only know what's been told in the media, but I bet HE was the problem, not the hospital. If the hospital was practicing poor medical practices, he would have explained that in detail to the media along with the video he sent.

He sounds very different than a loving, caring father trying to remove his baby and wife from a precarious medical situation in the hospital.

I guess we'll see with time!

AfterMidnight, I'm surprised your dentist didn't need dentures after pulling that one! :D What a jerk! I hope everything worked out with your daughter and her baby-that sounds horrible. I'm so glad you were there!
 
Couple gives their account of hospital Taser incident

(8/15/07 - KTRK/HOUSTON) - Exclusive video of a Houston father who was shot with a Taser while holding his baby is making national headlines. Now another couple who was at the hospital that day has come forward.

The couple has remained silent for months. After we broadcast surveillance video of the incident, the Houston parents felt like it was important to provide a missing link to this story. The surveillance tape has no sound, but the people I spoke with say they heard almost everything that happened that morning.

When Ruben and Dana Santillan gaze at their new baby's picture, they fill with pride. Little Elena's birth also reminds them of a terrifying ordeal. She was less than day old when in the middle of the night, a scene captured on surveillance video erupted outside of their hospital room.

"You could hear him and all the nurses arguing about, he wasn't to leave, you all need to let me out of the hospital," said Ruben.

William Lewis demanded nurses allow him to take his four-day-old baby girl home. He and his wife wanted to leave Texas Women's Hospital with their baby, Karla. They refused to follow hospital procedure. We spoke with Lewis by phone about his conversation with nurses.

"He told me, sir, if you do not take the baby back into the room, we're going to have to call security on you," Lewis told us. "And at that point, I decided this was the last straw."

"He yelled to them, he was like, 'I bet if I turned this into a hostage situation, somebody would let me out of this hospital'," said Ruben.

For the Santillans, with that statement, Lewis crossed the line. That's when they got scared.

"He definitely was belligerent and irate and he caused a threat to the whole floor," said Ruben.

That's why they believe an off-duty Houston police officer did the right thing when he shot Lewis with a Taser. At the time, Lewis was holding his newborn baby and she fell to the floor.

More at link

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=local&id=5572678
 
In this day and age, why would the mother still be in the hospital after 4 days? Was something medically wrong with the baby? I think I got released after 48 hours with my first and 24hrs with my second.
 
In this day and age, why would the mother still be in the hospital after 4 days? Was something medically wrong with the baby? I think I got released after 48 hours with my first and 24hrs with my second.

Even with something medically wrong with the baby they would have released the mother unless she had cash on hand or KICK *advertiser censored* insurance OR a DR willing to flub her medical state in order to garner her more of a stay.

My Daughter is 18 years old and even back then it was ONE day maybe 2 nights if you gave birth late in the evening.
And I had insurance!

Richie who is now 13 was kept a few extra days but I was sent home! I can only assume there is more to this story... but I still do not see how the hospital had legal right to stop this man from taking his child.
 

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