Father charged for speeding to hospital

OXFORD – It’s a dramatic scenario that happens on TV. A motorist races to the hospital and a sympathetic police officer provides an escort. Together, the vehicles screech to a halt outside the emergency room.

That’s not the way it worked out in real life for a father racing to the hospital as his wife sat in the backseat with their injured son.

Jon Stensel, 31, faces charges of driving to endanger, criminal speeding, failing to stop for an officer and disorderly conduct.

Stensel said he was at work on Jan. 11 when his wife, Carie, showed up with their 3-year-old son, who had suffered a head injury.

The boy’s head was swelling, and the shocked family took off for the hospital.

“I didn’t want my son to die,” Stensel said. “I believe in my heart that everything I did was right.”

Stensel said he was honking his horn and flashing his high beams and waved for Oxford Police Cpl. Theron Bickford to offer an escort while he was stopped at a red light across from the Wal-Mart.

Bickford said he rolled his window down and heard Stensel say his son was injured. Bickford said he told Stensel to pull over and that he would call an ambulance. He said Stensel told him that he was not going to wait and pulled away from the red light. “He wanted me to escort him to the hospital, but the law says we can’t escort civilian vehicles because of liability issues,” he said.

Bickford said he viewed Stensel’s driving as erratic and that Stensel reached speeds of 70 miles per hour. The only time Stensel slowed was to try to wave him in front as an escort.

“Once he realized I wasn’t going to pass him, he continued at a high rate of speed,” Bickford said.

Twice, Bickford ordered Stensel to pull over at red lights. Both times, Stensel kept on going. “I was driving fast but careful,” Stensel said. Later, a Norway police officer joined the pursuit.

In the end, the boy was OK. Carie Stensel told her husband he hit his head on a tow hook on her vehicle while he was sliding. He was diagnosed with a severe bruise on his head. As for the boy’s father, Stensel is scheduled to be arraigned Feb. 25 in District Court.