Bill Workman
February 24, 2001, Saturday, Final Edition
Copyright 2001 The Chronicle Publishing Co.
The San Francisco Chronicle
February 24, 2001, Saturday, Final Edition
(SAN JOSE, Calif.) -- Police Officer Dave Sandoval has twice stood in awe in a hospital delivery room while his wife gave birth to the couple’s two children. Yesterday morning, while investigating a burglar alarm that had gone awry in the Berryessa district, he was called on to deliver someone else’s baby. It happened when a woman went into labor in a nearby house and Sandoval was flagged down for help by her frantic husband.
After putting in a radio call for paramedics, the 19-year-veteran cop and the would-be father, Jehuda Demayo, rushed to the aid of Demayo’s wife, Tammy, 35, in the couple’s Calla Court home.
Realizing that she was in the last stages of labor, the 43-year-old Sandoval spread a bed comforter on the bathroom floor for the woman and went to work. Moments later, a baby boy dropped into the officer’s waiting hands, according to police spokesman Steve Dixon.
Noticing that the infant did not appear to be breathing, the officer turned it upside down and tapped it a few times on its tiny buttocks, inducing a cough and regular respiration, much to the relief of Sandoval and the new father. “The two men exchanged smiles,” Dixon said.
Dixon added that while Sandoval has watched both of his own children being born, yesterday was the first time he had assisted in a birth. “He told me it was a good feeling, but scary -- just like you see on TV movies.”
The mother and her newborn were taken by paramedics to San Jose Regional Medical Center where hospital spokeswoman Leslie Kelsay said both were in good condition and resting comfortably.