The arrest of a Grant Parish man has led to a bit of controversy in central Louisiana.

Zak Evans was arrested near Pineville, just outside of Alexandria on Monday night. Police had clocked him doing 108 mph in a 55 mph zone.  They say that Evans was passing cars by using the shoulders of the road and was posing a hazard to others.

When he pulled over, Evans began screaming at police officers who then demanded that Evans exit the vehicle.  The officers cuffed him and took him off to jail.

This is where the controversy arises.  The reason that Evans was speeding was because his wife was in labor and he was trying to get her to the hospital. Evans' wife, Bridget, had gone into labor seven weeks early.  She had begun bleeding earlier that evening and Evans was concerned that he would lose his wife and his unborn child if he didn't make it to the hospital in a hurry.

After Evans was arrested, his wife was taken to the hospital by ambulance where she delivered a healthy 4 pound, 4 ounce baby girl.  But Mr. Evans was not there to witness the birth of his first child--who the couple named Letty.  He would not have been able to visit his wife in the hospital later that night if Cabrini Hospital in Alexandria had not intervened on his behalf.  Police were about to take Evans back to Grant Parish where he would have remained in jail.  At the urging of a doctor from Cabrini Hospital, the officer who arrested Evans decided to write him a few tickets and dropped him off at the hospital.

Mother and baby are doing fine and the Evans' are philosophical about the events of Monday night.  In an interview with KALB-TV, Mrs. Evans said, "She's alive.  Thanks to the Cabrini team, she's alive."

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