Highway Hero Helps Deliver Baby On I-15

That baby was coming, ready or not.

A mother gave birth to a baby boy on I-15 in Salt Lake City Thursday -- with help from a Utah Highway Patrol trooper. 

Trooper Angel Teran was responding to a separate call when a red pickup truck began swerving and flashing its lights behind him near 2700 South. 

At first, he thought the driver was being aggressive, but then he saw the panic on the man’s face and realized something was wrong. 

Teran pulled over and helped deliver the baby safely on the side of the interstate. 

Mother and baby are both doing well.

Dispatchers and babies

Emergency dispatchers Annalee Stoker and Julie Packer, on a recent episode of the Andy Griffin Show, said getting a call at dispatch with someone having a baby can be exhilarating.

"We deal with so much heavy stuff, so many bad things that happen, that to be able to contribute to something positive is amazing," said Packer, who has helped deliver four babies during her 14-year career as a dispatcher.

Read More Here: SGPD's Dispatch: '9-1-1, What's The Address To Your Emergency?'

Stoker, who has been with dispatch more than 20 years, has had it happen only once.

But the two veteran 9-1-1 operators agree that saving lives is cool, it's even cooler to help bring a new life into the world.

Statistically, it's very rare for a police officer to have to deliver a baby. Most cops go their whole careers without experiencing it.

But it does happen.

Police and babies

One officer, Rob Branson, said he had this experience while on duty.

"0230 and I’m sitting in the parking lot of a closed convenience store talking to a buddy who’s on his way home from work.

My radar alarm goes off, 76 mph in a 45 mph zone. I pull in onto the street, ready to go into pursuit and the vehicle slams on the brakes.

The husband bails out of the car screaming at me that his wife is having a baby, and he was certainly right.

We loaded her into the backseat of my cruiser and I took off Code 3 for the hospital, about 8 miles away with my buddy bringing the husband.

I radioed to have the ER at the hospital waiting, but when we arrived there was no one outside waiting.

I opened the back door to the cruiser and the lady was in full labor and starting to crown.

I got into the car to help and two nurses came running out so I started to get out of the way and one of the nurses blocked my way, handed me a blanket and told me I was doing a fine job just go ahead and catch the baby.

I delivered the baby, tied and cut the cord, and got to carry the wrapped, squalling baby into the ER. -- 6lb, 2oz little girl. One of the good memories of my career."

Reality

But most officers have a similar experience to John Collier:

"No. I worked for a smaller city with great coverage by emergency services. The paramedics often got there before we did, if not they were just minutes away. I rarely had to start any kind of first aid before the trained experts arrived. I was present twice for a delivery but I never had to perform one myself."

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