A routine assignment turned into something much more memorable for one Berlin Borough police officer, who ended up helping a mother deliver her baby right in the parking lot of a local Wawa.
Patrolman Dominic Hodson was assisting with a nearby traffic stop when dispatch sent him to a Wawa on Route 73 for a report of a woman in labor. He arrived just as Taylor Durham was giving birth inside her family’s car.
A Fast and Unexpected Delivery
According to Hodson, there was no time to spare. “She actually had the baby on the seat. So I stepped up, you know, picked the baby up, made sure the baby was breathing and wiped the fluids away from the nose and mouth,” he said.
The baby boy was born within about three minutes of the family arriving at the Wawa. Hodson stayed with the newborn, clearing his airway and checking that he was breathing until paramedics arrived on scene.
For Hodson, the moment was unlike anything he had faced before on the job. “It was a little nerve wracking,” he admitted. “I don’t have any children, never delivered a baby.”
He explained how he ended up at the right place at the right time. He had just passed another officer handling a traffic stop nearby, and once he heard dispatch describe the situation, he knew the ambulance was still minutes away. He said he felt he had to stop and help immediately rather than wait.
Phil Durham, the baby’s father, said having Hodson there made all the difference in a stressful moment. “Just being on the phone with dispatch, I could sense that somebody was there, that I wasn’t alone,” he said.
Family Reunites With the Officer Who Helped
Days after the delivery, the Durham family reunited with Hodson to thank him in person. The Berlin Borough Police Department also presented the family with a care package of baby supplies along with a department-themed onesie for the newborn.
Despite the praise he has received, Hodson was quick to downplay his role in the delivery. “They say that we do it all,” he said. “We’re out, you know, solving, you know, delivering babies. So it’s a job with a lot to do.” He added that the real credit belonged to the new parents. “If anybody is heroic it’s the mom and the dad,” he said.
Body camera footage from the scene captured the entire moment, showing just how quickly things unfolded once Hodson arrived at the Wawa. The video has since drawn attention online, with many praising the quick thinking of both the officer and the Durham family during an emergency that could have gone very differently without help nearby.