NYPD Officers Honored For Delivering Baby In Midtown

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — Two police officers were honored Thursday for helping delivery a baby on a bust Midtown Manhattan street corner.

State Senator Brad Hoylman presented NYPD officers Tiffany Phillips and Carlos Guadalupe with the New York State Liberty Medal, the highest civilian honor given out by the State Senate. The award is given to people who demonstrate "meritorious, humanitarian, selfless, noble, heroic, and exceptional actions" on behalf of their community.

Phillips and Guadalupe were stationed near West 40th Street and 10th Avenue on Jan. 16 when they were flagged down by a panicking motorist, a representative for State Senator Hoylman said. The motorist explained that his wife was in labor and needed an emergency transport to Lenox Hill Hospital on the Upper East Side.

When the police officers got to the man's car, they saw that his wife was too far along in labor to make it to the hospital. Instead, Phillips and Guadalupe sprung into action to help deliver the baby. While Guadalupe ran to a nearby hotel for towels and blankets, Phillips began coaching the mother through labor.

Minutes later, the baby was born, but wasn't breathing, a representative for State Senator Hoylman said. Officer Phillips gave the newborn a few bats on the back and the baby boy began to breathe.

"Police officers Tiffany Phillips and Carlos Guadalupe embody the highest ideals of the New York City Police Department," Sate Senator Hoylman said in a statement. "Their selflessness in the line of duty, helping to deliver a baby on a hectic city street, is emblematic of the important work – seen and unseen – that the NYPD does every day. I am thrilled to bestow upon them our State’s highest civilian honor."

Photos courtesy the office of Sate Senator Brad Hoylman