Home-alone officer: Im fighting to get my kidnapped son back from US cops
A British police officer arrested in the US after her baby was seized by New York cops is launching a reported £30 million legal bid to get him back.
A British police officer arrested in the US after her baby was seized by New York cops is launching a reported £30 million legal bid to get him back.
The holiday of a lifetime during maternity leave turned into a nightmare for PC Louise Fielden when New York Police Department (NYPD) officers took away Samuel, then just six months old.
Staff at the Chelsea Highline Hotel called in social services alleging the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) officer had left Samuel unattended in the hotel lobby and for 30 minutes in their hotel room, according to court papers.
The Tower Hamlets-based officer has told of the dramatic moment the NYPD stormed her room and her baby was taken into care.
Speaking of Samuel being removed, she said three police officers entered the room and threw me to the floor.
She alleged that one officer assaulted her and told her: Take that you limey bitch, you cant be a police officer.
Ms Fielden added: Samuel has been taken away illegally and I havent done anything wrong.
“In my culture and society in London this behaviour of leaving a child for a short period of time is normal and acceptable.
I just want my son back, PC Fielden said in a legal statement.
Her lawyer, Andrew Spinnell, argues the baby is being held “hostage and kidnapped in a foreign country”.
The international saga began in April when PC Fielden arrived with Samuel in New York City for a two-week stay after a three-month winter holiday in the Caribbean.
She told theEvening Standard she has CCTV proving she never left Samuel, who was born via IVF and an anonymous sperm donor, in the lobby.
PC Fielden also says she left him unattended in the hotel room only for a short period when she had to descend three flights of stairs in the hotel to sterilise his feeding bottles in hot water.
An officer for 13 years, PC Fielden also claims her sons US foster carer Susan Sena is not appropriate as she is a member of a gay rights support group.
Criminal charges against the PC Fielden were eventually dismissed but her son has been in foster care in the States for nine months.
The 42-year-old single mother came back to London last Tuesday (January 5), a day after the charges were dropped.
She then placed papers in Brooklyn Federal Court and has begun court proceedings, which have already cost her more than £50,000, to get Samuel immediately returned to the UK to live with her or her cousin.
A hearing is due later this week.