Officer Assists With a Special Delivery Along 101 Freeway

This Hollywood Freeway speeder was going fast Sunday--almost too fast for Officer Jerry Siel.

But the Los Angeles police motorcycle officer arrived just in time to help deliver a baby, born in her parents’ car on Father’s Day alongside the 101 Freeway, a few miles short of the hospital.

Siel, an 11-year Los Angeles Police Department veteran, was en route to an off-duty assignment at the Hollywood Bowl on Sunday afternoon when some drivers involved in a traffic accident flagged him down on the northbound side of the freeway near the Glendale Boulevard off-ramp, said West Traffic Sgt. Ken Kreider.

“While he was helping them, another person stopped and said his wife was having a baby,” said Kreider. “So Seil went back to the man’s car and sure enough, his wife had delivered the baby about two-thirds of the way.”

Siel summoned paramedics, helped Lara Saldivar to deliver the child, then wrapped the baby in a towel. He called the paramedics back; they still were needed, Kreider said Siel told them. And: “It’s a girl.”

Mother and daughter were taken on to a hospital and were doing well, said Kreider.

And when Siel shows up for work today, Kreider added, he will find that his nameplate on the duty board now reads “Dr. Siel.”