Macon, GA–“In the front yard of his well-kept home, officers told Craig Donahue to get out of his car and began to question him about the reported domestic incident. “‘I didn’t know what they were talking about. My wife was sick, really sick. We thought she was dying. I told them this wasn’t domestic, it was a medical emergency,’ he said. “Brande Jordan and Cora Jordan also exited the vehicle, trying to help Donahue clarify what really was going on. “Brande Jordan approached an officer, pleading to take her mother to the hospital, but was asked to step away. “As Bridgett Donahue screamed to her husband for help from the backseat of their car, Craig Donahue decided to drive away from the officers and head for Coliseum Medical Centers. “He didn’t get far.
“Within seconds, squad cars surrounded Donahue’s vehicle near the intersection of Shurling Drive and Walnut Creek Drive. “Officers pulled guns on Donahue as they ordered him out of the car with his hands up and legs spread.” In this story, a loving husband and father is trying to help his wife in a medical emergency but, due to the hazards of LWM (Living While Male), he ends up spread-eagled on the ground, with guns pointed on him, while his wife’s medical emergency goes untreated. The article is below–thanks to Tony, a longtime reader, for sending it to me. The reporter, Ashley Tusan Joyner, did a nice job on the story–feel free to commend her at ajoyner@macon.com or at (478) 744-4347. Husband says Macon police used too much force By Ashley Tusan Joyner Macon Telegraph, 2/8/08 One east Macon family’s 911 call went awry early Wednesday, in a case police are calling miscommunication. A husband, mistaken for an abuse suspect, tried to rush his sick wife to the hospital. He ended up being pulled out of his car by officers with their guns drawn. It was about 5 a.m. Bridgett Donahue, 45, awoke at her Cumberland Drive residence. She needed to use the restroom. While washing her hands, she glanced up at the mirror and discovered a reflection that horrified her. “My face was barely recognizable. My cheeks, my jaws, were all swelled up. My lips were all cracked. My tongue was swelling by the second. I looked down and my arms and legs were swelling too. They got to be about the size of balloons. I started to have difficulty breathing,” she said during an interview at her home Thursday. Donahue, in the initial stages of recovery from a surgical procedure Monday, was having a severe allergic reaction to pain medication prescribed by her doctor. “I screamed so loud everybody in the house woke up,” she said. At 5 a.m., a 911 dispatcher at the Macon-Bibb Communications 911 Center received Donahue’s call. Donahue stated her address, “2528 Cumberland Drive.” She said her body was swelling up. She requested an ambulance. The 911 dispatcher reported the call to the regional ambulance dispatch office at The Medical Center of Central Georgia – routine procedure for a medical emergency – and that dispatcher called for an ambulance to Donahue’s home. Minutes later, Donahue’s mother, Cora Jordan of Albany, who was in Macon to help care for Donahue, called 911 again. She asked for an ambulance. Again, she reported Donahue’s swelling. And again, the 911 dispatcher transferred the call to an operator at the Medical Center. A third 911 call was made minutes later. Donahue’s daughter, Brande Jordan, 20, made one of those calls, unsatisfied that nearly 10 minutes later an ambulance had not arrived. “All I know is my mother is screaming, crying and saying that she feels like she’s dying. The fact that no one had come to help didn’t make any sense to us,” she said. It was during one of these calls that a dispatch operator at the Medical Center reported hearing yelling, possibly an argument, in the background at the Donahue home. That dispatcher assumed that a domestic violence situation was occurring at the home and summoned police officers to the scene. The officers arrived before the ambulance while Donahue continued to swell. Her difficulty breathing worsened. Her mother, her daughter and her husband, Craig Donahue, became frantic. “That’s when the police showed up,” Craig Donahue, 46, said, “just as we were backing out of the driveway to head to the hospital ourselves.” Officers Gregory Ussery, Jascon Parks, Shane Benton and Jonathan Hunnicutt were dispatched to the scene, according to a report from the Macon Police Department. It is unclear which of the officers showed up. In the front yard of his well-kept home, officers told Craig Donahue to get out of his car and began to question him about the reported domestic incident. “I didn’t know what they were talking about. My wife was sick, really sick. We thought she was dying. I told them this wasn’t domestic, it was a medical emergency,” he said. Brande Jordan and Cora Jordan also exited the vehicle, trying to help Donahue clarify what really was going on. Brande Jordan approached an officer, pleading to take her mother to the hospital, but was asked to step away. As Bridgett Donahue screamed to her husband for help from the backseat of their car, Craig Donahue decided to drive away from the officers and head for Coliseum Medical Centers. He didn’t get far. Within seconds, squad cars surrounded Donahue’s vehicle near the intersection of Shurling Drive and Walnut Creek Drive. Officers pulled guns on Donahue as they ordered him out of the car with his hands up and legs spread. He was placed on the ground and restrained, as he cried begging for his wife. “I was scared and felt death,” he said. “To see them going and put guns on him, all of this felt like a dream,” Bridgett Donahue said. In the midst of this incident, Brande Jordan and her grandmother caught back up with the Donahues, traveling in a separate vehicle. Jordan had placed yet another call to the 911 center. An audio recording from the dispatch center recorded the scene. Hysterics were abundant. Officers struggled to manage the family. Bridgett Donahue said her condition went unassessed. “They told me to be quiet. They said I looked fine,” she said. The ambulance finally arrived. EMT workers examined Bridgett Donahue inside the emergency truck for about 15 minutes before heading for the hospital, she said. At some point, police determined her injuries actually had not been the result of the falsely reported domestic incident. Craig Donahue was free to go then, arriving at Coliseum hospital before his wife. Read the full story here.
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