Nurses Bail Out Dad Arrested While Rushing Choking Daughter To Hospital

CENTREVILLE, Ill. (CBS Local) -- A group of nurses at an Illinois hospital bonded a father out of jail after he was arrested for several traffic violations while rushing his daughter to the emergency room.

Darius Hinkle admitted he does not have a valid driver's license and said he was speeding on the way to the hospital on Thursday, but said he did it because his 1-year-old daughter was choking on a penny.

"The first thing in my mind was to get her to the hospital," Hinkle told KTVI.

Hinkle said by the time he arrived at Touchette Regional Hospital in Centreville, more than a handful of police officers from different agencies were behind him.

The child's mother, Donecia Pittman, said officers instructed them to exit the vehicle and put their hands up.

"I got out, put my hands up and I yelled, and I told the police, 'My baby is choking.' And I told them multiple times that she was choking," Pittman said. "They were just worried about the fact that we were speeding."

Hinkle said he was taken into custody.

After their daughter was treated and released, Pittman went to the jail to bond out Hinkle, but she was surprised when a woman she didn't recognize greeted her and said she was there to do the same. That's when she learned a group of nurses at the hospital had chipped in money to bond the father out.

"I can't thank them enough," Hinkle said.

The amount of Hinkle's bond was not disclosed.