A Chattanooga police officer who arrested a man last week for traffic violations as the man desperately was trying to get his wife to a hospital has been placed on paid administrative leave, according to a police spokeswoman.

Officer James Daves will remain on leave pending the outcome of an internal affairs investigation into his conduct, Lt. Kim Noorbergen said via e-mail.

Mr. Daves followed Eric Jesse Wright to Erlanger hospital last Wednesday night after he ran two red lights while trying to get his wife, Aline Bacelar Wright, to the emergency room. She was showing signs of having a stroke, she told the Times Free Press last Friday.

Mr. Daves told Mr. Wright at the emergency room that he would be arrested, according to the Wright family.

By Friday, Mr. Wright had been booked into the Hamilton County Jail and charged with seven crimes, including assault on police, disorderly conduct, reckless endangerment, felony evading arrest, driving on an expired registration and two counts of traffic-signal violations.

For complete details, see tomorrow's Chattanooga Times Free Press.