An avreich, a resident of Ashdod, last week was awakened in the middle of the night to take his wife to the hospital, in active labor. The couple headed to Maynei HaYeshua Hospital in Bnei Brak, traveling 100 KPH (60 MPH) in a 70 KPH (42 MPH) zone. It did not take long for the driver to get stopped by a traffic police vehicle that was waiting on the vacant road in Ashdod.
The young avreich explained “I did not realize I was traveling so quickly” since the road was empty and he was somewhat anxious. The avreich admitted he was wrong, asking the policeman to forgive him due to the extenuating circumstances, all the while telling himself “just give me a ticket and let me continue on my way”.
The driver pleaded to hurry up, but the policeman told them if they are in a hurry, they should call an ambulance and despite the couple’s objections, the policeman did just that. In the meantime, a Mishmar Ezrachi volunteer police patrol passed, and they too asked the traffic cop to permit the couple to get on their way, but the policeman ignored their request too.
“You are not acting like a mench” stated the avreich, and this comment too was added to the policeman’s summons in the comment section, but what the good officer neglected to enter into the explanation portion of the summons was the fact that the wife of the driver was in active labor. No mention was made of the circumstances on the summons. It took about 20 minutes for the policeman to finish his assignment and only after the persistent objections of the couple was the ambulance released and the couple permitted to continue in their own vehicle. The avreich had the summons and NIS 750 fine.
The following day, a senior traffic police officer telephoned the new father, wishing him mazel tov, and asking him to bring proof of the birth from the hospital. The avreich did just that, bringing all the relevant paperwork to the police station.
To the avreich’s surprise, later in the day, he received a telephone call from the chief of the Israel Police traffic unit, wishing him mazel tov and apologizing for the entire incident. The summons was canceled and the senior officer promised the department would take the appropriate steps to avoid such incidents in the future.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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16 Responses
a kiddish hashem
I’m sorry to say, but this officer should either be fired or at least cited for improper conduct. A person with such “poor” judgment is potentially dangerous for the general populous.
2,
not a kiddish hashem at all. people’s definition of kiddish hashem and chilul hashem are skewed. i’m not saying this was a chilul hashem either, dropping the ticket was a nice thing for the police to do.
#1: Huh? why in the world is that a kiddush hashem?
won’t anyone give credit where it’s due?
Credit to the senior police staff for being proactive and fixing a single policeman’s action.
How many people would have said (if no action was taken) they are all guilty? Here the unit in general showed it was an isolated incident, and they deserve credit.
Another example of stupid policemen! If not for chasdai HaSh-m, this story could have had a very different and tragic ending. An apology is FAR from enough!
All the more reason to support the building of a beautiful large new full facility hospital in Ashdod by Ichud Mosdos Gur of Israel. This never would have happened if the hospital had been operational. The Gerrer Rebbe Shlita, who has been a target of many inappropriate comments in these pages, has been at the forefront of social services provided not only to his own chasidim but to Israelis in general. And his father the Lev Simcha ztzl was the first to make tekanos for chasunas and purchasing of apartments to lighten the financial load on people. And the first chasidishe rebbe to require newly married couple to settle across Israel, Chatzor, Arad, Beit Shemesh, Ein Gedi and of course Ashdod.
Why didn’t he call an ambulance to begin with?
The policeman is obviously not a father & is an idiot. Not malicious, just an idiot. The senior police officers handled it very well. All’s well that ends well. Mazel Tov!
“the senior officer promised the department would take the appropriate steps to avoid such incidents in the future.” – I would like to see YWN follow-up on this story to see if the police REALLY do take steps, and WHAT steps, to prevent this in the future. OR… was this apology (and a bogus promise) just to prevent a major law suit against the police. This could have been a disaster. REAL steps need to be taken.
We had a similar incident here in Dallas this past March involving someone rushing to visit a dying mother-in-law. The officer involved no longer works for the Dallas police.
mamashtakah, there is no reason to call an ambulance in general for a woman to get to the hospital to give birth. Ambulances are only to be bothered for a birth in an emergency situation.
mamashtakah: in israel the ambulance corps charges you more than ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS for a ride to the maternity ward, therefore people who can avoid using them avoid them at all costs. abi gezunt!!
If i was The couple i would file a lawsuit against them just for the trauma alone. this could have let out badly after birth from the tension. hope they’re ok.
THIS INCIDENT COULD HAVE ENDED IN TRAGEDY.thank g-d, it did not. you wonder that the officer giving the ticket was not astute enough to escort this young couple himself rather than prolong the whole event. what kind of training did he get? maybe none. i believe thats why the superior officers got on line to try and cover up the stupidity of the officer writing the ticket.
While I don’t know the law in EY, I do know the law here. EY law is usually based on UK law. The law here states you can’t speed even if you have an emergency. Childbirth isn’t even considered an emergency. If a cop here would have said, “you should’ve called an ambulance -he would be correct”. Now obviously, even though they were breaking the law, he should’ve not delayed them too long. (common sense) This was issue that probably got the summons dismissed.
From the posters here, I can tell this law isn’t too popular. One guy said, they should sue -on what grounds I don’t know- he obviously watches too much tv or internet. There has to be some sort of damage in this country to even initiate a law suit. A cop doesn’t have to take you to the hospital if you have an emergency; he also doesn’t have to escort you either. EMT’s are taught to avoid police escorts with their ambulances. If you don’t like this law- speak to your legislators!