Utica police chase turns to hospital escort with woman in labor

TROY, Mich. (FOX 2) - Two new parents went from fugitives running from police to having the same officer escort them to Corewell Health hospital in Troy - and its a good thing they ran into each other, because time was of the essense.

The speeding couple went from being fugitives to getting a police escort due to their baby not worrying about traffic laws.

Newborn Henry Sadowski is going to have quite the story to tell one day. It starts back on Oct. 17th, when Mary told the father of her child, Austin, that her water broke.

"I was freaking out," Mary Weertz said. "He didn’t believe me at first because we were just talking about how most peoples' waters don’t break. They just do that in movies for effect."

They rushed into Austin’s truck and started towards the hospital - then they got to Hall Road.

"Everybody was stopped but I said ah, and turned left," said Austin Sadowski.

Which is an illegal move - one that caught the attention of Utica Police Officer Liz Demuynck.

"So he did it pretty much right in front of me, so I flipped around because he was going quite fast,"she said.

"Of course there’s an officer we are going to get pulled over for sure," said Weertz.

Mary was right.

"So I called 911 and said my name is Austin Sadowski. I’m driving a black Super Duty and I’m currently being chased by the cops and not stopping," he said.

Eventually, he did pull over.

"So then I pulled up next to him," said Demuynck. "He was kind of waiving to me out the window."

Police dash video: "My wife is in having labor right now," Sadowski said.

"OK is she in labor?" Demuynck said. "Keep going."

And the situation went from a police pursuit to emergency escort - just like that.

"OK, I’m going to escort them to Dequindre. She is in the passenger seat," she radioed to dispatch.

When they arrived at the hospital, the officer handed them over to the pros there.

"I escorted them from Van Dyke because they were driving kind of crazy," Demuynck said.

"I got her in a wheelchair and said 'Do you need my license for anything?' Sadowski said. "She said, 'No, you are fine, take care.'"

"Do you want my license?" Sadowski asks while pushing his wife in a wheelchair into the hospital.

"Nope," the officer said.

And the quick action was warranted - baby Henry was having trouble upon arrival.

"'The baby is showing signs of distress we need to get this thing going right away,'" Sadowski says he was told.

A couple hours later, and he entered the world safe and sound.

"You know the gravity of what can happen and how bad it can become, very fast," Demuynck said. "So I just went into that mode to try and help."

Days later the new parents were able to say thanks to that officer in person.

"It’s a cool story and it would be awesome if we could take a photo with you, so we can give him a picture when he’s older," Sadowski said.

"When it’s like this and a positive outcome you feel good about it. Like you helped, I think it changes it."

The police officer is a mother of two herself and a former dispatcher. She says that life experience certainly paid off in this incident.