A California sheriff’s deputy is speaking out after helping a woman deliver her baby near a local business.
The Rancho Cordova Police Department said in a Facebook post that officers were recently dispatched to Vehicle Drive following reports of “suspicious circumstances.”
When officers arrived, they found a 29-year-old pregnant woman who, according to police, “was in extreme distress near a local business.” She said she was in labor and had been crying for help for about three hours.
Deputy Foster Tracy told CBS affiliate KOVR that the situation went from “zero to a hundred really fast.” At first, he said, what the woman told him “didn’t really register.”
“She lifts up her dress, and the baby is halfway out, and she said she’d been there for hours,” Tracy recalled.
Soon after, officers realized the baby had its umbilical cord wrapped around its neck, KOVR reported.
“I was concerned the baby was deceased because it was purple and blue,” Tracy said. “Saw the umbilical cord, did the best we can with our experience.”
Both officers helped deliver the baby boy and “comforted the mother throughout the birth process,” according to the police department. The baby, they added, “appeared to be healthy, breathing, and crying upon being delivered.”
The Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District then transported the mother and her newborn to a local hospital, the Rancho Cordova Police Department said.
“This is an incredible demonstration of ‘commitment to community’ by RCPD Officers Tracey and Thome for assisting with the delivery and successfully bringing a new life into the world and providing care and comfort to the mother!” the department said in a statement.
Reflecting on the experience, Tracy said it “feels good” to have been there for the mother and baby in such a critical moment.
“It’s one of those moments where you feel like you’re making a difference,” he said. “One of the reasons we sign up as police officers, or at least I did, is to help people in the community.”
