South Jersey police officer assists in roadside newborn delivery

EGG HARBOR TWP., N.J. (WPVI) -- A police officer in South Jersey jumped into action to help a woman who was going into labor.

It was 4:30 a.m. Thursday when Egg Harbor Township Police Officer Heidi Wollermann was on patrol.

"We received a call for a woman in a vehicle going into labor," said Wollermann.

The couple was parked along the Black Horse Pike.

"She was definitely in pain," she said. "She was ready to give birth. She was screaming, 'Get me to the hospital.'"

Wollermann has been an officer for 6 years, and while this was her first on-the-job delivery, she knew right away that they weren't going to make it to the hospital.

"It was a matter of two minutes and the baby arrived," said Wollermann

EMS arrived shortly after Officer Wollermann and also assisted.

"The father got to snip the umbilical cord, and it was a great moment for them," said Wollermann.

She said it was a surreal 12-hour shift.

"I started the shift performing CPR on a gentleman that unfortunately didn't make it, but in the morning, towards the end of the shift, I assisted with the delivery of the baby girl. So it was definitely a full circle of life moment," said Wollermann. "We're human too. We have emotions. We deal with things. It was great to have a good moment at work and not necessarily just a bad one."

Mom and baby girl were taken to Atlantic Care to recover from their unusual birth.