Sandy Springs officer helps deliver baby after finding mom’s car stopped

SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — When a Sandy Springs police officer found a car stopped on the side of the highway, the last thing he expected to happen next was that he’d be delivering a baby.

Police say that early Monday morning, one of their officers was on patrol when he came upon the mom’s car and sprung into action.

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“There is no such thing as ‘routine’ in our line of work and every encounter might come with surprises such as this one,” police said in a Facebook post.

Officer Patrick Burt spoke with Channel 2′s Steve Gehlbach Thursday. He said he will never forget the experience but he does not want to do it everyday.

“This is my first time actually delivering a baby,” Burt said. “With the baby literally on its way, there was no way they were making it to Northside, not with the heavy traffic there was.”

Burt has been with the department for nearly five years. He is a member of the traffic unit and was coming on shift around 7 a.m. Monday when a man flagged him down as he pulled off I-285 at Northside Drive. Through a bit of a language barrier, Burt said he heard the word “baby.”

“He walks me over to his passenger side. I opened the door, looked at mom and she’s obviously in labor,” Burt said.

Burt called for an ambulance and the fire department and rushed back to his car to get a set of gloves. He said the baby came within a few minutes of him arriving at the car.

At first the baby was silent, a scary moment for everyone.

“That’s when I started to get frightened when the baby was not making any audible noises and finally when it did, I was relieved,” he said.

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Burt, who is a father of two kids himself, later reunited with mom and baby Noah at the hospital with a stuffed K9 Romy. Both of them are doing very well.

Burt said he plans to check on the boy every year on his birthday.

“I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. It was an experience. I don’t want to do it everyday. I commend doctors who do. But it was part of the job. I was there and did what I had to do,” Burt said.

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