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.
Another Kennedy tragedy!
How is this only a misdemeanor?
I kinda liked him on FNC.
Rules don’t apply to the Kennedys.
Kicking a female nurse in the pelvis. NOW is about to release a
statement sharply critical of Kennedy. Any minute now...coming right up...stand by....Zzzzzzzzzzz.
Fresh air? January in NY with a newborn? And this family “doc,” how many celebs have had an unfortunate incident with their medico in attendance?
Im more interested in knowing exactly why he couldnt take his child in the first place.Hospitals now refuse to let you take your newborn unless you allow them to administer immunizations.Many peeople think these contribute to autism.Is that the possible reason?Kennedys have never been my favorite people but I want to know more before condeming him.
“How is this only a misdemeanor?”
Because he is a Kennedy.
The rules that apply to ordinary people do not apply to them.
It sounds like he might have been drunk. Who takes a newborn out for fresh air? Of course his wife is going to stand by him. What’s she going to say? My husband behaved like buffoon?
Don’t know the whole story and will reserve judgement but why was he being prevented from leaving with his child?
“Do you know who I am?”
Was the getaway car an Oldsmobile?
I’m surprised he wasn’t charged with assault on the two nurses.
Then again, he’s a Kennedy, so he gets away with it.
Just wow. Nurses gone haywire. Dad has every right to take his child out of the hospital. The hospital does not have ownership. We once had a resident physician tell us we could not take our child out of the hospital after 24 hours. We were trying to save ourselves and the hospital $$$$. Hubby was ready to do some violence to someone though I don’t suspect a nurse would have been on the receiving end. Another pediatrician stepped in and said, “I’ll sign for these parents so they can leave with their child.” Some folks are control freaks and just want to assert their Power. We had this happen again with another son. Our pediatrician had cleared us to leave at our earliest convenience. She hates hospitals and wanted us out of there for our own good. The nurses “lost” our pediatrician’s paperwork and said they needed to have her fill it out again. Well, let’s just say they did not like messin’ with her. Then they flubbed a hearing test so that we had to come back a week later and caused us all sorts of stress over it. This was all because the nonAmerican nurse(s) were incompetent. And maybe they wanted paying customers to fill their rooms as opposed to the unpaying. I’m not sure.
By voluntarily entering a hospital- especially in a non-emergency situation, you pretty much agree to the rules of the hospital. It sounds to me like Kennedy experienced what is commonly known as a “nutty episode”. I wonder if that doctor was with him to try to calm him down.
The child belongs to the family, not the nurses, hospital, or the state.
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