CHICAGO — A Chicago police officer did double duty on Thursday, responding to a shooting and then pivoting to help deliver a baby when a woman at a nearby residence went into labor.
Field training officer Josie Christopher was part of a police unit that responded to a shooting in the Kilbourn Park neighborhood of the city at about 7:40 a.m. EST, WLS-TV reported.
A man was bleeding heavily from his leg, and Officer Antonio Pelayo called for paramedics. The officer used a tourniquet to save the man’s life, according to the television station.
After the officers were done investigating, Christopher was walking to her patrol car when she was waved down by area residents who led her to a woman in labor in a nearby vehicle four doors from the scene of the shooting, WFLD-TV reported.
Police said the woman was en route to the hospital when she asked for the vehicle to be pulled over, according to the television station. Christopher immediately went into action.
“The baby was mostly out when I got there so I just helped her put the baby on the chest,” Christopher told reporters during a news conference. “The scariest thing was the baby wasn’t crying,” Christopher said. “When the baby cried, it was just amazing.”
It was the first time in Christopher’s 21-year career that she delivered a baby, WLS reported.
“Any officer would have done what I did,” Christopher, who is the mother of an adult son, told reporters. “She was very scared. I was very scared. I had never done anything like this before. It was just the right place at the right time.”
Chicago police said the newborn and her mother were taken to a nearby hospital and are doing well, WLS reported. Authorities added that the man who suffered a bullet wound to his leg is expected to recover.
“We do see a lot of bad things in our job every day, but every now and then every now and then you have a really good day that you really carry on for the rest of your days as a cop,” Pelayo told WFLD.