When a panicked man came through the doors of the Woodstown New Jersey police station frantically waving his arms and shouting in a language officers Benjamin Haines and Gabriel Chiarelli could not understand, the two cops had no idea they were about to become emergency midwives in the backseat of a car. Security footage shows the man rushing into the station before both officers followed him outside to his parked vehicle, and when they opened the back door they found his wife already in active labor with a baby that was not going to wait for an ambulance to arrive. The language barrier immediately became a challenge since neither the expectant parents nor the officers could communicate verbally, so Haines and Chiarelli quickly pulled out their phones and opened Google Translate to give instructions about breathing and pushing while also relying heavily on hand gestures when the translation app could not keep up with the urgency of the moment.
Officer Chiarelli admitted they were not really expecting that situation especially when the baby started coming out the second they opened the car door, but both officers who have been on the job less than two years with only basic CPR training jumped into action without hesitation. Haines put on his gloves and told the woman to breathe and push through Google Translate, and within moments the baby’s head appeared followed shortly by the rest of her tiny body, and the officers wrapped the newborn baby girl in blankets while waiting for emergency medics. Chief Ryan DeFalco praised both officers saying they did not have much time to think and simply reacted doing everything they possibly could and doing it right, while the humble officers insisted they were just doing their jobs even though they helped bring a beautiful new life into the world using nothing but quick thinking a smartphone app and compassion.
