Police chase, point guns at couple in labor speeding to hospital
Ben and Rachel Lohnen weren't trying to evade police when they were speeding on the highway early Tuesday morning. Rather, they were trying to have a baby.
Ben Lohnen was driving 30 mph over the speed limit early Tuesday morning as his wife Rachel was in labor. Behind him were the bright flashing lights of an Iowa police vehicle, hot on the couple's trail. Rachel, determined not to have her baby in the car, called 911 and reported the officer who was chasing them.
"I did not want him to stop . . . I did not want to have a baby in the car," Rachel told ABC News.
The 911 operator couldn't understand what Rachel was saying. At that point, Ben took over the 911 call while simultaneously driving.
""Ma'am, we are heading to the hospital . . . my wife is having a baby and it's coming out."
A few moments later, police laid down tire spikes on the road ahead, causing the tires to pop and stopping the couple. Police ordered the couple to the ground at gunpoint, but once the officers realized the pregnancy emergency at hand, they then escorted the couple to the hospital.
"Once they figured out I was pregnant and very much in labor, they all responded in kind and really appropriately," said Rachel.
Finally at the hospital, Rachel gave birth to a healthy girl named Hazel.
