11 Southland Peace Officers Honored: They Are the Ones Who Delivered in the Clutch

California Highway Patrolman Jeffrey Jones said he expected trouble when a car, with horn blaring and bright lights flashing, pulled up behind him on the San Diego Freeway more than a year ago.

“If they didn’t have a good excuse, I was ready to give them a ticket,” he recalled.

But instead of issuing a citation, Jones delivered a baby.

And the parents, who flagged down the patrol car after they got lost en route to the hospital, gave Jones rave reviews Tuesday at a ceremony honoring area peace officers who delivered babies while on duty.

Trusted ‘Completely’

“He (Jones) seemed like he knew exactly what he was doing. I trusted him completely,” said Christine Sizemore, whose daughter, Erica Petit, was born in the back seat of a car on the freeway in April, 1988.

Jones was one of 11 officers who received awards at a luncheon sponsored by the Los Angeles County Medical Assn. In addition to those from the CHP, officers from the Beverly Hills Police Department, Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department were honored.

For many, it was their first reunion with the babies they brought into the world--and their parents.

“It’s kind of neat,” said Jones, clutching a picture of Erica in an Easter suit that he had just received from the baby’s father, Matthew Petit. “That night, it was this dripping wet thing, now she is a little baby.”

“These guys have all sorts of negative things happen to them in the line of duty,” Dr. Charles McElwee, president of the association, said of the honorees.

“(This ceremony) is a positive thing for the officers; to encourage them to be of service to their community.” Los Angeles Police Officers Robert Arellano and Tracy Lamaestra were all handshakes and smiles as they greeted Morena Rodriguez and her baby, Roberto, whom they delivered in the middle of a downtown intersection last October.

Arellano explained that the officers were called to the scene by a frantic sergeant when Morena went into labor on the way to the hospital.

But when they caught up with the Rodriguez’s 1972 Maverick at the corner of Figueroa and 5th streets, the officers got another surprise--the couple spoke no English.

“We had to motion to her to pant like a dog,” Arellano said.

Arellano, who is 26 and single, conceded that he found the experience, his first delivery, a bit confusing.

“I saw the baby’s head come out. At first, I didn’t know what it was,” he said.

But Arellano and Lamaestra completed the delivery and had the baby safely wrapped in his father’s suit jacket when the ambulance arrived to whisk him to the hospital.

And Arellano could not have been more proud as he posed for a picture with Roberto, who was named after the officer.

“I didn’t expect him to be so big,” Arellano said. “It feels real good.”

CHP Officer Frank Packard walked away with two awards Tuesday. He assisted Jones in the birth of Erica and also delivered twins in April, in a CHP office parking lot.

“You are always nervous,” Packard explained. “I had a little more experience the second time around. But I am far from a pro.”

State law requires that all peace officers receive emergency obstetrics training, but that doesn’t always include hands-on experience, said LAPD first aid coordinator Martin Kovacs. For example, the department gives a one-hour class at the Police Academy in which cadets watch a film and hear a lecture about delivering babies. Then they are on their own, Kovacs said.

But veteran Patrolman David Darling, who received an award Tuesday, said delivering babies is not as tough as it might seem.

“Basically, you just watch and hope for the best,” he explained.