Mother Gives Birth Easter Sunday With Help From CPD Officers

The mother arrived at the station while in labor, and officers helped her as she gave birth

It’s an especially beautiful Easter Sunday for one local family after a group of Chicago police officers helped deliver a healthy baby girl outside of an area police station.

Just after 7 a.m. on Sunday morning, area resident Johnny Stokes was driving toward the nearest hospital, his daughter in active labor in the passenger seat.

“When I got to 79th Street, she reached out and said she felt the baby’s head,” Stokes said.

That’s when the grandfather-to-be made a fateful decision: instead of driving to a hospital, he drove to the third district police station on Cottage Grove, and when he arrived, several police officers came outside and helped to deliver the impatient infant.

“We just kind of coached her through it, told her to breathe,” one of the officers said.

The mother ultimately delivered the baby in front of the police station, but the infant had the umbilical cord tied around her neck. Officers were able to release the cord and held the crying baby until EMS responders arrived on the scene and took the mother and baby to Comer Children’s Hospital.

Now baby Ava, who weighed in at eight pounds, two ounces, is doing well, and Stokes is crediting Chicago’s finest for helping through a really difficult situation.

“Everyone was calm and cool, and they’re the true MVP’s of this,” he said. “Because they did an excellent job, and without them, I don’t know what would have happened.”

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