Posted on 02/24/2012 8:11:38 PM PST by Hunton Peck
The son of Robert F. Kennedy has been charged with harassment and endangering the welfare of a child for allegedly clashing with two nurses who tried to stop him from taking his 2-day-old baby boy from a Westchester maternity unit, NBC New York has learned.
According to a Mount Kisco, N.Y. police report obtained by NBC New York, Douglas Kennedy, 44, took his baby from the newborn unit of Northern Westchester Hospital on Jan. 7, against the instructions of hospital staff who told him the infant needed to stay there. The arrest was on misdemeanor charges.
Kennedy and his wife, Molly, disputed the accusations in a statement to NBC New York, saying "these allegations are absurd."
The nurse in charge of the unit, Anna Margaret Lane, said in a deposition that Kennedy wanted to take the child "to get fresh air" that evening. As he tried to leave, he was accompanied by a doctor from the hospital's emergency room, identified in court papers as "Dr. Haydock," later determined to be Dr. Timothy Haydock, a longtime family friend.
While the nursing staff sought to get Kennedy to return the baby to his bassinet, Haydock reportedly encouraged Kennedy to walk with the baby by telling nurses that he was with him, according to Lane's deposition.
Kennedy ignored the pleas of the nursing staff and carried the newborn -- identified in court papers as "B.K." -- to the elevator, police said. As the nursing staff tried to calm him and dissuade him from leaving the hospital, Kennedy turned and walked toward a stairwell leading to the outside of the hospital.
Lane blocked the doorway, "placing both hands on the doorknob" to prevent Kennedy from leaving, police said. Kennedy grabbed the nurse by her left wrist and twisted it to that he could pass into the stairwell, police said.
The baby's head "began to move from side to side, and in an attempt to stabilize the baby's head, nurse Cari Maleman Luciano reached toward the infant's head," police said.
"Instinctively as a nurse, I raised both my arms toward the neck of the baby to steady the violent shaking of the baby's head and neck," Luciano told investigators in a deposition.
While holding the child in his right arm, Kennedy kicked Luciano in the pelvis with his right foot, knocking her backward onto the floor, police said.
As he did this, Kennedy fell onto the floor with the baby in his arms. Kennedy then got up and ran "down the stairs with the infant until he was stopped by security and escorted back to the infant's room," the police report said.
The police report did not say whether the infant was harmed in the altercation.
The statement to NBC New York from Kennedy and his wife said there was no crime committed.
"The nurse had no right to attempt to grab our child out of his father's arms and I, Douglas, was shocked and appalled when she did so," the statement said.
Haydock said in a statement to NBC New York that Kennedy, whom he has known for more than 40 years, was not putting his healthy baby at risk by seeking to take him for a walk outside.
"I witnessed the incident and I can state unequivocally that the nurses were the only aggressors," he said. "To charge Mr. Kennedy with a crime is simply incomprehensible to me."
Kennedy is the 10th child of Robert F. and Ethel Kennedy. He and Molly have four children.
A Brown University graduate, Kennedy started his journalism career with The New York Post and most recently worked as a general assignment reporter and bi-monthly news program host for Fox News.
I think we can all go along with that.
True, many didn’t. But not because of a few brief moments of exposure to cold. Babies born in Alaska/Siberia do not stay in hospitals until the climate changes. Al Gore’s possibly, but not the rest of us ;)
Sure, modern medicine is good...and ridiculously overboard with people running around worried about the most natural of occurrences as if they constituted the danger of the black plague.
Exposure to the elements is one of the very thing that ‘sets’ our immune system. If we live in a bubble filled with all the chemicals that ‘modern medicine’ feeds us, is it shocking that we get sick? We develop no natural resistance to anything.
And anyone thinking a walk with a newborn in fresh air, even cold air is a danger ignores the reality of the non-central heated and air conditioned world that constitutes a huge portion of this planet.
you really must be joking.
IF you wanted your baby discharged within 24 hours they are more than happy to do so as long as the baby is fine and the nursery has their discharge order.
as for that misplaced order ? you call your doctor and have her FX it and while you’re waiting get the nursing supervisor and administrator.
control freaks ? LOL.
If this story did not contain the name "Kennedy" the replies on this thread would have taken an entirely different character. As it is, the posts do not reflect creditably on FreeRepublic.
Having a government of laws rather than men is not a one-way street.
They were just talking about it on Fox.
Kennedy wives stand by their men whether they are serial cheating or up on manslaughter charges.
It’s not the hospital’s kid. Just have him sign a waiver he’s rejecting the hospital’s advice/treatment, and let him walk outside. He was with a family doctor. He sounds like an ass but being an ass isn’t necessarily against the law. He may not be able to help it being a Kennedy.
From what we are able to see and read...I side with Kennedy on this.
I think I’d be interested to find out what the attending physician thought about it before jumping to any conclusions. Maybe it was fine to take the kid out... But maybe it wasn’t. I think I’d like to know that.
Geez, you’re an hour and 13 minutes late!
If the baby is leaving with just the father and discharge papers haven’t been signed, for all the hospital knows this could be a disgruntled father who’s having marital problems and a lawyer just waiting to sue on the mother’s part.
There’s surveillance video at the link. There’s a woman walking with him who looks to be the mom.
I saw that after clicking “Post” — had to work late tonight.
Ya have not only a physician, but a physician witness, backed by the *Mother* herself, and the Dad in question.
>>Dr. Timothy Haydock: "I witnessed the incident and I can state unequivocally that the nurses were the only aggressors," he said. "To charge Mr. Kennedy with a crime is simply incomprehensible to me."<<
a KENNEDY? Sorry, that goes without sayin'.
“Lane blocked the doorway, “placing both hands on the doorknob” to prevent Kennedy from leaving, police said.”
Well, it sounds to me like Mr. Kennedy has a nice fat countersuit on his hands for a couple counts of kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment.
I wouldn’t allow my newborn to have those BigPharma shots either. Perhaps that’s the issue. But if Kennedy didn’t want the baby to have shots, he should have arranged to have the child delivered at home. Or at some other place where they are not mandatory.
Been a long time since I had a newborn, however.
I only see him and 2 nurses getting into the elevator
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