Nurses pay bond for dad who sped to hospital to save choking 1-year-old daughter

CENTREVILLE, Ill. (FOX 13) - Several nurses bonded a father out of an Illinois jail after he was arrested for speeding while rushing his choking daughter to the hospital.

Darius Hinkle put the pedal to the metal Thursday when he realized his 1-year-old daughter Damani was choking on a penny.

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

Hinkle admitted he does not have a valid driver's license, but said his mind was only on saving his daughter's life.

"That's my daughter. I wouldn't want nothing to happen to her," he said.

Officers clocked him going over 100 miles per hour, Hinkle said. By the time he got to the hospital, more than a handful of officers with different agencies were behind him.

Donecia Pittman, the 1-year-old's mother, said she tried to explain the situation to the officers.

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

Hinkle was arrested and taken to jail. But when Pittman went to to the jail, a woman she didn't recognize arrived to bond him out. That woman ended up being one of the nurses from the hospital.

Pittman said a group of nurses chipped in money to pay for his bond once they learned what had happened.

The couple says they are grateful to the nurses for their kindness -- and for saving their toddler's life.

"I just, I mean... I can't thank them enough," Hinkle said with a smile.