Father hit with Taser while holding baby talks about incident

(4/23/07 - KTRK/HOUSTON) (KTRK) -- A Houston father is angry. He was hit with a Taser by police while he was holding his newborn daughter. It's the first time he's talked publicly and you'll only hear from him on Eyewitness News.

We first told you about this father last week. Police used a Taser on him while he was holding his newborn baby outside a local hospital. The staff says he was unruly, but the father says that wasn't the case.

The baby is now two weeks old, but she's already been through quite an ordeal. Now her father is speaking out, claiming a hospital security guard, an off-duty HPD officer, put his child in danger.

The birth of a first child is supposed to be one of the happiest times in a parent's life.

"It hasn't been very joyous," said William Lewis.

The joy of Lewis' daughter's birth was overshadowed. Four days after baby Carla was born at Texas Women's Hospital, an off-duty Houston police officer Tasered Lewis while he was holding her.

"It hit me approximately right here and I had the baby in my arms," said Lewis, showing us where he was hit.

The Houston father slumped to the floor and by his estimation, dropped the newborn five feet. Lewis and his wife, Jacqueline Gray, now worry the fall caused brain damage.

"It shakes a lot," said Lewis. "It's like a real uncomfortable baby."

The whole incident happened in middle of the night. Lewis and Gray tried to leave with the baby against advice of hospital personnel. A sensor on the baby's ankle set off an alarm. Officers say they thought Lewis was trying to kidnap the baby. Both parents deny that.

"The officer Tazered Lewis up on fourth floor, even though he had no way to leave. He had no weapons and he was cornered. The hospital security system locked the doors and caused the elevators to stop working.

As Lewis recovers from the incident, he's trying to understand how things went to so wrong; how a once in a lifetime moment could be lost.

"I haven't had a chance to spend a whole lot of time with the baby," said Lewis.

A union spokesperson said the officer did everything by the book. The hospital administrators stand by their employees' actions. They told me their employees didn't know Lewis was the baby's father and that he never asked hospital officials to discharge the baby.

Lewis did show me that he had a hospital identification band on his arm that corresponded with the baby's ID band.
(Copyright © 2007, KTRK-TV)

Get more News »

• Email
• Print
• Report a typo
•