Scout and Police Officer Team Up for Life-Giving Good Deed
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iStock/Thinkstock(SIMI VALLEY, Calif.) — A California police officer and a 16-year-old Scout on a ride-along with the officer performed a good deed that neither expected when they helped deliver a baby girl.
Police Officer Kyle Crocker, of Simi Valley, Calif., and Explorer Scout Kyle Hunter were near a 76 gas station on Saturday when they discovered that a woman was in labor.
“I’ve seen a lot of movies and shows about police officers going to calls like this and I figured, ‘Wow, that’d be a crazy call to go to,’ and the second we get dispatched to that I think, ‘This is really happening,’ so I’m like, ‘Alright, here we go,’” Hunter told local ABC Los Angeles station KABC.
The woman in labor, Patricia Garcia, was in the car with her other children and her mother when she realized she would not make it to the hospital in time. It was her son who spoke with the 911 operator.
“He said, ‘My mom is in labor and she is pushing’, so I said, ‘I’m thinking we got to go on this one,’” said the dispatcher, Anna May.
Hunter took on the responsibility of keeping the family safe inside the gas station while Officer Crocker stayed behind in the car with Garcia to deliver the baby.
“I started talking to her and she indicated very quickly that this is happening now,” said Crocker, who added he was hoping paramedics would arrive to the scene before the birth. “I didn’t tell her to push because I didn’t want to speed things along, but I told her to do whatever comes natural and we’ll basically deal with it.”
Garcia gave birth to daughter Ariel just about one minute before paramedics arrived, according to KABC.
As a gesture of appreciation for the role the two Kyles — Hunter and Crocker — played in bringing her new daughter into the world, Garcia gave Ariel the middle name of Kylie.
“Fortunately, the baby and mommy are healthy, and that is all I can ask for. I am very relieved,” said Crocker, according to KABC.
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