Mill Park police officers delivered a baby on a Thomastown nature strip after they discovered a woman in labour during a routine car check.
The woman was a passenger in a car the police pulled over on Dalton Road about 10.20am last Thursday.
Senior Constable Jamie Mackenzie called an ambulance, but the baby was in too much of a hurry to wait for paramedics.
“I pulled them over because they had their boot open and I was just going to tell them to shut their boot,” he said.
“Then it turned out there was a lady in the car and she was in labour.”
He and partner First Constable Milan Radenkovic, both fathers themselves, delivered a baby girl with help from Ambulance Victoria via the phone.
“She just gave birth right there on the nature strip,” Senior Constable Mackenzie said. “I delivered the baby and her partner was there, too. He was helping from the other end.
“The mother was super-stressed; she wasn’t sure if the baby was going to be alright. I have children of my own, but I was up the other end for their births. I wasn’t down the business end.”
Senior Constable Mackenzie said it was the most memorable thing he’d done in his five years as a policeman.
Mother and baby were taken to the Austin Hospital, where both were doing well.
