Son Gets Speeding Ticket While Driving Dad To Hospital

If a family member is having a heart attack and you're driving him to the hospital, you might not be paying close attention to the speedometer. This story from suburban Chicago suggests maybe you should.

Fox News reports that an Illinois State Trooper wrote a $1,500 speeding ticket to Michael O’Neil, even after an ambulance came to the scene to deliver his dad to the hospital. Illinois State Police officials said they’ve looked into the incident and found nothing inappropriate:

Michael was allegedly going 82 mph in a 55 mph zone when he was pulled over. The trooper walked over to William on the passenger side and asked him what was going on.

“And I said, ‘I think I’m having a heart attack. We’re on the way to the hospital,” William said.

William then showed the trooper his bag of medication.

“I lifted it up and he said, ‘You don’t look like you’re having a heart attack,’ which, you know, um, was pretty rough,” he said. “I mean, that’s pretty rough.”

A police spokesman told the Chicago Sun-Times that the officer’s in-car video tells a different story and that the officer’s conduct was proper and within policy.

Dad did get the help he needed but it's still a pricey lesson to learn for the son. Though my guess is as long as Dad's health is OK, he'll gladly, if reluctantly, pay the price.