Woodstown officers race from station to car — and become delivery-room heroes

I remember when Jodi was ready to deliver our daughter Elizabeth, her doc was an hour from our new house.

So when she told me she was ready, we jumped in the car and I made time.

Thankfully, we made it in plenty of time.

In December last year, a Woodstown couple had a similar experience: the mom-to-be went into labor and the dad-to-be jumped in the car for the hospital run.

Although the hospital was a lot closer than our experience, it became obvious halfway there that the baby had other plans.

Realizing that they were not going to make it to the hospital. Dad quickly pulled over near a police station and sprinted inside the station to get the attention of officers.

Woodstown police officers help deliver baby in car

Minutes later, as the father ran out of the police station, Patrolman Benjamin Haines & Gabriel Chiarelli followed.

Both of them had been on the job for less than two years, but they jumped into action like experienced pros.

As they came up on the car, the baby was already on its way.

Without hesitating, both patrolmen jumped into action to help the mother deliver. This is when they realized there was another roadblock.

Language barrier overcome during emergency childbirth

Both the expecting mother and father spoke very little English, so the officers used Google Translate and hand motions to communicate and coach the woman in the backseat during the delivery.

Patrolman Haines explained that:

"...we really couldn’t say much, but I just told her to breathe and push, and she did and out came the head..."

Shortly after, with the help of the two patrolmen, the woman was able to safely deliver the baby!

A little more than 10 minutes later, medics arrived at the scene. The Patrolman had done their job.

Woodstown Chief Ryan DeFalco had this to say about his two patrolmen:

"They didn't have much time to think. They just reacted, and they did everything they possibly could - they did it right."

Thank you to Patrolman Benjamin Haines and Gabriel Chiarelli for immediately springing into action to help an expecting father and a mother actively in labor with no option left.

They are out Blue Friday honorees this week.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Spadea. Any opinions expressed are Bill's own.

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