FAST FACTS:
(Cordova, TN 4/7/2009 A Shelby County Sheriff's Deputy was suspended for one-day without pay following a two-week internal investigation.
Deputy Micah McNinch pulled over Wayne Ables March 12 for an expired tag. Ables' 83-year-old mother, Vernice, had pulmonary hypertension and was having difficulty breathing. She was in the backseat.
Ables was on his way to the hospital. St. Francis was about a mile away.
A copy of the dashcam video shows Deputy McNinch approach the vehicle.
Ables: "My mom's real sick, i'm trying to take her to the hospital, she's still breathing real bad." Deputy McNinch: "Ok, your tag expired?"
Ables: "We're trying to get to the hospital right now." Deputy McNinch: "Ok, have you got insurance on the vehicle?" Ables: "Yes I do."
Ables asks McNinch to call an ambulance. He does. But a minute later, Ables asks instead if the deputy will escort them to St. Francis Hospital or allow him to leave and drive her there himself. The hospital was about a mile away.
Deputy McNinch: "They'll be here in just a second."
He then returned to his vehicle and got on the radio.
Deputy McNinch: "If it was that bad, he should've called an ambulance in the first place to get her from the house. You see what I'm saying?"
About 10 minutes pass, there's no exchange between McNinch and Ables' family.
At 2:07 a.m., the ambulance arrives, Ables gets out of the truck saying, "Mama! Mama!"
Right before paramedics load her onto a stretcher, the 83-year-old says, "I can't breathe!"
She later died at the hospital.
Ables says his mom had been sick for some time. He never wanted McNinch to be fired over what happened. He just wishes the 3-year- deputy had showed a bit more compassion.
"There were some judgemental errors made, and he needed to be held accountable for that," said Sheriff Mark Luttrell of the Shelby County Sheriff's Department.
But for the most part, he says McNinch followed policy. His file is clean, it includes two good performance reviews. So rather than severely punish him, he was suspended for one day without pay.
"I forgive him, because it's what my mom would want, because my mom would, she'd do it for me," said Ables.
"As long as there's lessons learned here and they can put it in policy," he added.
Deputy McNinch wrote in his disciplinary action form that looking back on the incident, he probably would've checked on Ables' mother's condition sometime during the minutes they waited for an ambulance. But overall, he wrote, "I feel I did exactly what I was trained to do and also what Mr. Ables asked me to do."
- Deputy pulls over man trying to rush his sick mother to hospital
- She dies shortly after arrival at hospital
- Deputy suspended for 1-day without pay
(Cordova, TN 4/7/2009 A Shelby County Sheriff's Deputy was suspended for one-day without pay following a two-week internal investigation.
Deputy Micah McNinch pulled over Wayne Ables March 12 for an expired tag. Ables' 83-year-old mother, Vernice, had pulmonary hypertension and was having difficulty breathing. She was in the backseat.
Ables was on his way to the hospital. St. Francis was about a mile away.
A copy of the dashcam video shows Deputy McNinch approach the vehicle.
Ables: "My mom's real sick, i'm trying to take her to the hospital, she's still breathing real bad." Deputy McNinch: "Ok, your tag expired?"
Ables: "We're trying to get to the hospital right now." Deputy McNinch: "Ok, have you got insurance on the vehicle?" Ables: "Yes I do."
Ables asks McNinch to call an ambulance. He does. But a minute later, Ables asks instead if the deputy will escort them to St. Francis Hospital or allow him to leave and drive her there himself. The hospital was about a mile away.
Deputy McNinch: "They'll be here in just a second."
He then returned to his vehicle and got on the radio.
Deputy McNinch: "If it was that bad, he should've called an ambulance in the first place to get her from the house. You see what I'm saying?"
About 10 minutes pass, there's no exchange between McNinch and Ables' family.
At 2:07 a.m., the ambulance arrives, Ables gets out of the truck saying, "Mama! Mama!"
Right before paramedics load her onto a stretcher, the 83-year-old says, "I can't breathe!"
She later died at the hospital.
Ables says his mom had been sick for some time. He never wanted McNinch to be fired over what happened. He just wishes the 3-year- deputy had showed a bit more compassion.
"There were some judgemental errors made, and he needed to be held accountable for that," said Sheriff Mark Luttrell of the Shelby County Sheriff's Department.
But for the most part, he says McNinch followed policy. His file is clean, it includes two good performance reviews. So rather than severely punish him, he was suspended for one day without pay.
"I forgive him, because it's what my mom would want, because my mom would, she'd do it for me," said Ables.
"As long as there's lessons learned here and they can put it in policy," he added.
Deputy McNinch wrote in his disciplinary action form that looking back on the incident, he probably would've checked on Ables' mother's condition sometime during the minutes they waited for an ambulance. But overall, he wrote, "I feel I did exactly what I was trained to do and also what Mr. Ables asked me to do."
