CHP Officer--He Brakes for Baby

California Highway Patrol Officer John Chilcot figured Thursday that helping a woman in labor was more important than giving a speeding ticket.

Shortly after 6 a.m., Chilcot was writing a ticket when a blue van, driven by a frantic father-to-be, pulled behind him on the side of the San Gabriel River Freeway northbound, just north of Wardlow Road in Long Beach.

Chilcot dropped what he was doing and went to the van, where he found Anna Tu, 32, of Garden Grove about to give birth. Chilcot called paramedics, who delivered a 7-pound, 13-ounce boy inside the van at 6:30 a.m.

Both mother and son--named George--were doing fine at Los Alamitos Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Sharon Clancy said.

Anna Tu had a quick labor. “I wanted the baby to come so quickly, but this was a little too quick,” she said.

Even experienced paramedics were caught off guard by the ease of the delivery.

“She did all the work,” said Long Beach Fire Capt. Jim May, an 11-year veteran. “I just had to catch.”

George is the sixth child in eight years for Anna and Jimmy Tu, who came to the United States in 1981 from Vietnam. The couple, who have been married for 10 years, said George Huu Tu will be their last.

The most difficult part of Thursday’s ordeal initially, Chilcot said, was “just calming (Jimmy Tu) down enough to find out what was going on.”