A young couple received an early Christmas delivery thanks to the help of two transit officers in Philadelphia.
Two SEPTA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority) officers jumped into action aboard the Market-Frankford El in center city to help a mother deliver a baby on a subway train on Thursday, SEPTA said.
Around 6 p.m. Thursday, Sgt. Daniel Caban and Officer Dorrell James met the train as it arrived at the 15th Street Station after being alerted by a passerby about an imminent birth inside a car on the train, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
"As soon as we got there, I could see the baby's head coming through her sweatpants, and we just went right to work," Caban told CBS radio station KYW.
Immediately getting down on his knees, Caban helped guide the baby out, loosening the umbilical cord from around its neck.
After the expectant dad handed the officers a sweater to swaddle the newborn, onlookers reportedly knocked on the subway train's windows and offered a thumbs up, the Inquirer reported.
"Both the baby and mother are doing fine," SEPTA spokeswoman Kristin Geiger said, adding that they were taken to Hahnemann University Hospital for evaluation.
"When she was on the train I guess the baby said, 'I'm ready to come out now,' " witness Toney Harris-Saunders, who helped the mother relax on the subway, told NBC Philadelphia.
"You never really know what to expect for a day on the job, do you? I was hoping for a quiet day, but this is worth it," Caban said. "This is what our job is about."
"Just a good Christmas, you know. I know it's definitely a good Christmas for that family," James said, adding that the delivery went as well as he could have hoped.
"It was the best Christmas gift that I would ever be able to ask for," James, also a father, said. "Having a kid born on Christmas but also being able to help a family."
Meanwhile, SEPTA Police Chief Thomas Nestel III also tweeted his congratulations.
"Transit Police SGT and PO deliver baby on Market Frankford El train!!!! WOOHOO!!! Now that's a Christmas gift!!!" he tweeted.
