Story Archive

Florence Freebird

Darius Hinkle says his 1 year old daughter was choking on a penny, so he rushed her to Touchette Regional Hospital in Centreville, Mo. “The first thing in my mind was to get her to the hospital,” he said. When he arrived, several police officers with various agencies were following him, and arrested him for several traffic violations, including speeding and driving without a license. When the girl’s mother, Donecia Pittman, arrived later at the jail, she saw a woman she didn’t recognize bailing Hinkle out. “She said ‘I’m the nurse from Touchette hospital’,” Pittman said. Several of the nurses had chipped in money to pay Hinkle’s bond. “I can’t thank them enough,” Hinkle said. (MS/KTVI St. Louis) ...Neither can his daughter.