Son Gets Speeding Ticket while Rushing Dad to Hospital for Heart Attack

A Lemont man is in disbelief that his son was ticketed for speeding—while rushing to get him to the hospital during a heart attack.

William O’Neil, 60, recounted his story of heart trouble and speeding for the Chicago Sun-Times, detailing the play-by-play of his son’s attempt to bring him to a hospital. Michael, 30, was racing north on Interstate 355 Sept. 27, when the lights flashed in his rearview mirror.

The elder O’Neil told the Illinois State Trooper that he was having a heart attack, and hoped that perhaps they would be given a police escort to Good Samaritan Hospital 20 minutes away. But the Lemont man said the officer doubted his claims, despite his showing his medication as proof.

...[the officer] said, ‘You don’t look like you’re having a heart attack,’ which, you know, um, was pretty rough. I mean, that’s pretty rough.”

—William O’Neil, as reported by the Sun-Times

The trooper called an ambulance, and medics told both O’Neil and the officer that his heart readings were abnormal. As he was being taken from the scene, his son was kept back while the officer finished doling out the ticket.

“‘You need to slow down next time,’ ” the cop reportedly told Michael, before handing over a $1,500 ticket for going 82 mph in a 55 mph zone.

Not His First Heart Attack

O’Neil had suffered his first heart attack in 2011. He was treated at Good Samaritan, where they operated to clear the blocked artery and implant a stent. Four years later, he found himself disoriented and in pain at a grocery store, he told the Sun-Times. He went home and tried to sleep, but ”some pretty wicked pains” kept him awake. He alerted his son, and they hurried into the car.

After the encounter with the officer, O’Neil was taken to Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital, where he was diagnosed with a heart attack. He underwent another surgery and received another stent for a blocked artery.

He wanted to be taken to Good Samaritan because of his history with the facility, but Illinois State Police Master Sgt. Matthew Boerwinkle said standard protocol calls for fire and emergency services to transport patients to the nearest hospital during life-threatening emergencies. Adventist was 5 minutes away; Good Samaritan, 20.

‘We Were Not a Threat’

The son should have called an ambulance for his father, Boerwinkle contends.

“The chances of causing a crash increase significantly during self-transport, because motorists tend to drive erratically and speed excessively during medical emergencies,” he told the Sun-Times. “It would be difficult if not impossible to render effective first aid to a passenger or monitor their medical condition while providing self-transport to a hospital.”

State police policy also “strongly discourages officers from escorting civilian vehicles in medical emergencies due to the extreme hazard not only to the escorting officer, but also to the occupants of the escorted vehicle and other motorists.”

O’Neil still couldn’t believe that his son would be cited in such an emergency situation. He filed a complaint against the trooper and is demanding an apology—perhaps even the trooper’s termination if justified by prior disciplinary issues.

“We were not a threat,” he said. “If anything, we were an emergency. I think that his approach was terrible, and I think he should be accountable for that.”

The agency is standing by its officer’s actions.

“The circumstances surrounding Mr. [William] O’Neil’s medical condition were unfortunate and understandable to anyone who has had a family member experience the same. We are glad to hear and know that he received medical attention and is doing all right,” Boerwinkle told the Sun-Times.

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