The moment a police officer approaches a parked vehicle during a traffic stop can be tense. They can never be certain what they’ll encounter. Cpl. Mohamed Hacham of the Melvindale Police Department had an encounter early Saturday morning he’ll never forget.
‘I feel the baby coming out’
When Cpl. Hacham saw a car speeding in Melvindale, he pulled it over. The couple inside told him the passenger was an expecting mother—and that she was ready to give birth. Very soon. To be precise, she told him, “I feel the baby coming out.”
Body camera footage shows how Hacham kept calm and reassured the couple. “Take a couple breaths, calm down. I got rescue on the way.”
The baby must not have heard him, because it decided not to wait for the EMTs. That’s when the dispatcher—who just happened to be Hacham’s brother—offered advice over the radio. “Listen carefully, I’ll tell you exactly what you need to do. I need you to lay her on her back in the center of the ground.”
It became clear they weren’t going to get the woman out of the truck in time. “I’m laying the seat all the way back,” Hacham said.
His brother replied, “Okay. Make sure to remove all her clothing below her waist, raise her head above her shoulders.”
And that’s when baby Galilea was born. “Yep, baby’s breathing, baby’s crying,” Hacham confirmed.
A delivery to remember
Melvindale Police Chief Chris Egan said, “I’m so proud of our officers. They helped this beautiful little girl come into this world.”
Hacham joked, “The training you receive at the academy… it’s not this.” He added, “Look, Dearborn Dispatch has amazing dispatchers, but I think God wanted him on the radio that time and wanted me there at that place.”
Maria, the mother, said, “Thank God, he helped us.” It was a learning experience for her, too. “For me, when you see a police officer, you always think it’s something bad. But this time, it was something good. They were very respectful.”
Someday, when Galilea asks how she was born, her parents will have quite the story. Perhaps they’ll even take her down to the Melvindale Police Department to meet Mo and Joe Hacham.
