New Jersey Father Gets Traffic Tickets After Saving Son From Cliff

15
>>Follow Matzav On Whatsapp!<<

car-cliffA New Jersey dad got the scare of his life when his 5-year-old son almost ran off a steep embankment, and though the man saved the boy from falling, he couldn’t stop his Jeep from going over the precipice and into a river below.

The reward for his ordeal? Two traffic tickets from local police.

Frank Roder, a construction worker from the town of Winfield Park, had taken his son, Aidan, down to the Rahway River to feed ducks Thursday. But when he stopped briefly before settling on a parking space, the impatient boy jumped out and took off — straight toward a ledge 35 feet above the river, Roder recalled.

“He hopped out, and I thought that was OK, I was just going to park,” Roder, 38, said, but “he just took off, made a beeline for the edge.”

The panic-stricken father jumped out of the cab of his 2006 Jeep Commander and raced after the errant boy, catching him just feet from the edge.

That’s when Aidan, eyes as big as saucers, looked behind Roder and said, “Um, Daddy …”

Roder turned in time to see the Jeep nosedive down the embankment and land in the muddy water.

Roder hugged the boy and waited as Union County police converged on the scene over the next few hours. A crane pulled the Jeep out, and amazingly, it started right up, though Roder is pretty sure his insurance company will count it as totaled.

He was counting his blessings when a young cop approached him and handed him two tickets. One was for failure to produce the insurance card, which was somewhere in the waterlogged cab. The other was for failing to use his emergency brake.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Roder said. “He said, ‘If you would have taken the five seconds to apply the brake, this never would have happened!’

“I say, ‘Really? And if I did and my boy stepped over the edge and fell instead of the Jeep, then were would I be?’ He says, ‘Jail, for child endangerment.'”

Too awful to contemplate is the fact the Roder almost took his six-week-old son Joel along for the ride.

“At the last minute, I told my wife to take him,” Roder said. “I can’t even think about that.”

Union County Police Chief Daniel Vaniska told FoxNews.com that his officers have some discretion about when and when not to write a ticket. But he said he just didn’t have enough information to second-guess what this officer did.

“It probably could have gone either way,” Vaniska said. “I can’t comment on the discretionary practices of an officer, but certainly, the fellow will have an opportunity to tell his story in court.”

Municipal Court is where Roder might get some sympathy — and maybe forbearance on those tickets, which are for $50 and $60. His date is May 30.

“I don’t care, I’ll pay it,” Roder said. “It’s just the principle. When something like that happens so fast, I could give a rat’s a– about the car.”

{Fox News/Matzav.com Newscenter}


15 COMMENTS

  1. Shabbos is more chomur than yom tov. And everyone knows that yom tov is docheh alternate side parking tickets. Pikuach nefesh is docheh shabbos. So kal vachomer ben beno shel kal vachomer, pikuach nefesh is docheh the tickets!

  2. to #1
    you are as intelligent as the cop in the story!

    when you need things like this explained , you are correct to describe yourself as confused.

    Let me explain the basic concept so you can prepare for the trip of becoming Unconfused.

    the appropriate time to write tickets is when their is an offense being committed.

    when an individual risks his life to save a life you commend him /her and declare them a hero, you contribute and assist them, not penalize or fine them.

    if you dont get it yet – then try being a hero once, you may have an easier time getting it.

  3. #1 – yes, you’re confused. He was saving his child’s life. The officer needs some sensitivity training – or maybe just a good dose of common sense. BH nobody was hurt.

  4. he doesnt deserve a ticket cuz he x do anything wrong!! just a like a good samaritan has laws protecting them from tickets if they are helping save a life, he should be covered as well!!! imagine yourself in his place!!!!

  5. what a stupid cop! not presenting an insurance card? does he have any eyes or brains? this is revenuing. cops are not their for anyone’s safety.

  6. Its like giving someone a speeding ticket for driving over the speed limit when taking his wife in active labor to the hospital & then explaining to the expectant dad “well you should have left earlier so you wouldn’t have had to speed”. The cop should be repremanded.

  7. I find it interesting that the cop had time to watch and see the license plate long enough to write it down, AND the make and model of the car, but had no time to help him save his child.

Leave a Reply to Oldtimer Cancel reply

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here