Deputy Delivers Baby at Car Wash

A deputy sheriff helped deliver a baby today in the front seat of a car at a Santa Clarita Valley car wash.

A motorist shouted, “Baby! Baby!” at Deputy Roger Bertola, who followed the car into a Canyon Country parking lot on Soledad Canyon Road and soon realized the mother was in labor.

The deputy immediately radioed Los Angeles County firefighters and assured the couple that paramedics were on the way. But the baby was apparently unwilling to wait.

The excited father stood side by side with Bertola as the newborn made her unexpected arrival.

Bertola has three children of his own, but this is the first baby he has delivered. He did know enough not to argue with a woman in labor.

“At first, I was trying to help the mother get comfortable,” Bertola said. “But she made it very clear she didn’t want me to recline the front seat, and I certainly wasn’t about to debate anything with her.”

The baby was born still in her amniotic sac, a rare “en caul” delivery. Because the mother’s water didn’t break, there was little warning for the couple.

Shortly after the newborn arrived, firefighters took the mother and baby to a local hospital, where both were reported to be in good health.

City News Service; Photo: Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department