It looked to be a routine night for Douglasville police Officer Candace Tongate.
Tongate was on patrol about 1 a.m. Wednesday, just as fireworks were coming to a close, when she pulled over a woman for making an illegal U-turn.
But just as she pulled the woman over, Kevin Williams pulled behind Tongate in an empty parking lot and told the officer his wife Letoya was about to give birth to their third child.
Tongate sent the woman she pulled over home with a verbal warning and began assisting the Williamses. She peeked in the car to find the baby’s head already making its way out of the mother and called 911.
“I already knew I would be adding to the situation if I was frantic,” Tonegate told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in a phone interview. “It wasn’t going to help, so I immediately went into police mode.”
With little time to spare, emergency officials talked Tongate through the delivery.
“When I realized it was happening, I couldn’t believe I was helping deliver a baby,” she said.
Baby Rylie arrived just before medical crew got to the scene.
Tongate has been with the department for more than two years and said she’s never had to deliver a baby before.
“I’ve been on less than five (similar) calls and they’re usually a woman having pains and EMS arrives,” she said.
Ten-year veteran Sgt. Stacy Gruber agreed saying he’s “stopped people for speeding on the way to the hospital, but had never seen a baby that far along.”
“I have two children and was in the (delivery) room,” Gruber told the AJC, “but this was the first time I had a hand in delivering a child.”
But Letoya Williams’ told Channel 2 Action News she doesn’t take the officers’ kindness lightly.
“I truly believe angels exist and she (Tongate) was definitely sent just for our baby girl,” Williams said. “I thought she was a mom with how calm she was handling everything, considering my husband was freaking out and the other officers on scene seemed to be in shock.”
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