Post date: Feb 26, 2012 6:35:17 PM
MOUNT KISCO, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 7, 2012) (NBC-An attorney for Douglas Kennedy, one of Robert F. Kennedy's sons, said Saturday (February 25) that his client is facing misdemeanor charges after getting into a confrontation with two hospital nurses when he tried to take his newborn son out of the hospital for some fresh air earlier in the week.
Robert F. Kennedy's son is facing misdemeanor charges stemming from a confrontation with two nurses that occurred as he was trying to carry his 2-day-old baby out of the maternity ward of a New York hospital.
Douglas Kennedy, 44, has been charged with harassment and endangering the welfare of a child following the January 7 incident at the Northern Westchester Hospital, according to WNBC-TV.
The clash occurred when the two nurses at the suburban New York hospital physically tried to stop Kennedy from taking his newborn son, Bo, out of the maternity ward
Eliot Taub, the lawyer for the nurses, said they were just following procedure.
"They called what's called a 'Code Pink'... that is, 'it looks like there's someone trying to abscond from the hospital with a newborn'. When it escalated they hit what's called a 'Code Purple' which means there's someone who is a danger in the hospital," said Taub.
Kennedy's lawyer, Robert Gottlieb, said that Kennedy was just trying to take his newborn baby out for fresh air and had already received permission from other nurses.
"Mister Kennedy was acting very quietly, politely, calmly. The only reason why anything happened here was because of the misconduct of two nurses," said Gottlieb.
Kennedy, a Fox News reporter and the 10th child of the late Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy, maintains he did nothing wrong. He was arraigned Thursday in Mount Kisco on the charges, Gottlieb said.
A spokesman for the hospital confirmed that an incident occurred on January 7 on the maternity ward but declined to provide any details because of patient confidentiality.