Parents of a five-month-old boy claim police took their baby from them because they challenged a hospital's competence.
Anna and Alex Nikolayev said they wanted a second opinion after they became alarmed when a nurse said she was going to give baby Sammy antibiotics after he began to suffer flu-like symptoms.
Anna said she didn't feel her son, who suffers from a heart condition, needed the medication. told a doctor they wanted a second opinion.
"I asked (the nurse), 'For what is that?' And she's like, 'I don't know'," Anna said.
Motivated by fear, she removed her baby from Sutter Memorial Hospital in Sacramento, California – where her son was due to have heart surgery - without a proper discharge and admitted him to another hospital, Kaiser Permanente.
"I don't want to have my baby have surgery in the hospital where I don't feel safe," she explained. Police then showed up at the second hospital.
"They told us that Sutter was telling them so much bad stuff that they thought that this baby is dying on our arms," Anna said.
At Kaiser Permanente, the doctor indicated on the infant's records that he was clinically safe to go home with the Nikolayevs and that there was no concern for the Sammy's safety in their care.
They went home. On April 24, the police arrived at their house. Alex said he greeted them and was pushed to the ground when he asked if he was being arrested. They then took Sammy away.
According to Anna, a child protective services worker told her Sammy was taken away for 'severe neglect' but did not elaborate on the neglect.
The exchange with the police was caught on camera. Police are seen entering the Nikolayev's home and asking Anna to hand over the baby.
"I'm going to grab your baby," one of the several officers at the scene told Nikolayev, "And don't resist and don't fight me."
"He grabbed my arm, so I couldn't take Sammy. And they took Sammy, and they just walked away," Anna told KSDK.
The Nikolayevs were allowed to spend an hour with Sammy on Thursday.
Anna said: "We did everything. We went from one hospital to another. We just wanted to be safe, that he is in good hands." A court date hearing was set for April 29.