PIKESVILLE, Md. — A Maryland State Trooper helped deliver a baby on the side of a Prince George’s County road following a collision Sunday.
Trooper Esai Cunningham, a probationary trooper assigned to the College Park Barrack, responded to reports of a collision on the Washington Beltway near the I-95 split into College Park at about 11 p.m. Sunday. While dealing with the accident, another car pulled up on the scene and told Cunningham that a woman in the car was in active labor, police said.
Cunningham called EMS, but, before medical personnel arrived, the trooper wound up helping the 21-year-old woman deliver a baby boy. Both the mother and son were then taken to Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring.
"He was just at the right place at the right time," said Ron Synder, the Public Affairs Officer for the Maryland State Police.
Synder said Cunningham is in his first year on the job as a trooper, having graduated the academy last winter. Synder joked he has known EMS and police personnel who have worked for decades and never had to help with an impromptu delivery similar to this. He also spoke of Cunningham's ability to swiftly go from one priority to the next.
"Talk about multitasking," Synder said. "You're there one minute taking care of an accident, the next you are delivering a baby."
Synder said both the mother and her new boy are doing well.
