MADISON, Ind. — The parents of a Madison, Indiana man are outraged after they feel they were wrongfully arrested.
Their son was seriously injured after he crashed his ATV. When his parents rushed to him at the scene, it ended with them in handcuffs.
A rainy night, and a winding road. It was the combo that caused 31-year-old Brent VanWye to crash his ATV, nearly dying over Labor Day weekend.
Kenneth VanWye, Brent's father said he and his wife Jackie Shelton got the call that Brent was involved in a crash in the late hours of Sept. 4.
"We were getting ready for bed and we got the call,” Jackie said. “And we just jumped up and threw on what we could and went out the door and headed towards the hill.”
Kenneth said all he could think about was his son and kept trying hard to get close to him.
"He wouldn't quit yelling, dad, dad, dad, he was screaming it in pain,” he said.
However, things soon took a turn when police said they asked Kenneth to leave the scene.
"I just kept on telling [the deputy] my son is yelling for me, my son's yelling for me, I need to get to my son,” he said.
Shelton said the deputy grabbed Kenneth’s arm and brought him over to her and said “something about being arrested.”
Police records say the couple wasn't cooperating, and they were arrested for Refusal to Leave Incident Area and Resisting Law Enforcement. Authorities allege the couple was distracting from the rescue by shouting and trying to move closer to their son.
Shelton said this is not what happened.
"We were across the street. We weren't near the scene. We weren't hampering the scene at all,” she said. "I said, 'Are we really doing this right now?' And he said, 'You're under arrest.' And I said, 'What? What, for resisting arrest?'"
The couple said they don't understand how arriving to their biggest nightmare ended the way it did.
"I'd hope any parent in this situation would want to go down,” Kenneth said. “They go to their son and get to him why he's yelling in pain, wanting his father."
They said although it will be a long road, Brent is expected to make a full recovery following multiple surgeries for broken bones.
WHAS11 contacted the Jefferson County Indiana Sheriff's Department for more information but have not heard anything as of this writing.
Both Kenneth and Shelton are expected in court Monday.
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