Writing tickets, enforcing traffic, and investigating homicides are par for the course for police work in Santa Maria.
Tack on delivering babies, at least for two officers from the Santa Maria Police Department.
SMPD officers Cole Whitney and Mason Jackson were out on patrol at 4:40 p.m. on Oct. 2 when they were called to the corner of McClelland and Fesler streets, near the McDonalds, to check on a woman who had apparently urinated on herself.
But it was a different story when they got there. The woman was pregnant and her water broke. She went into labor and began giving birth right on the sidewalk, according to SMPD Sgt. Jesus Valle.
Valle said that it was Cole who arrived first and began giving aid. Then Jackson showed up and assisted while Cole successfully delivered the baby and comforted the mother until the arrival of medical personnel.
The mother and the baby are doing well, Valle said.
This article appears in Oct 8-15, 2015.