Baby Born On Long Island Expressway With Help From Dispatcher

An emergency services dispatcher verbally coached a man to deliver his wife's baby on the side of the Long Island Expressway on Tuesday evening, police say.

Edward Livote, 30, of Hauppauge, notified police that this wife, 30-year-old Janine Presley-Livote, was in active labor while they were en route to Winthrop Hospital in Mineola at around 5:35 p.m.

Presley-Livote was ready to give birth, so Livote pulled over on the left shoulder of the westbound HOV lane, near exit 51 in Dix Hills. Livote was coached to help his wife successfully deliver the baby girl while on the phone with Fire Rescue and Emergency Services dispatcher Jon Hallock, police say.

Suffolk County Police Highway Enforcement Section Sergeant Scheuerer then arrived at the scene, placed the newborn face down onto her mother’s stomach and did a finger sweep that cleared the baby’s airway and removed mucus. Scheuerer then tied the umbilical cord with the string from a first aid mask that was in another Highway Patrol officer’s medical bag, police say.

The Dix Hills Fire Department transported the baby, who is named Charlotte, and her mother to Huntington Hospital, where they are both in stable condition.

Images via Suffolk Police