NYPD Cops Deliver Baby on FDR Drive

A couple of NYPD officers delivered a baby on FDR Drive Tuesday morning, authorities say.

It started with Det. Michael Sharpe, a crash investigator who was on his way to Manhattan traffic court in an unmarked department car when he heard a dispatch call for a woman in the labor on the highway, according to police.

He canvassed the FDR Drive northbound until he found the family's car on the right shoulder near East 47th Street, police said. The detective approached the car, opened the passenger-side door and saw the baby's father on the phone with a 911 dispatcher getting detailed instructions on delivering the child. 

Sharpe helped the father deliver the baby boy in the car, and the two wrapped the newborn in a blanket to keep him warm while the father stayed on the phone with the dispatcher. 

An NYPD Emergency Service Unit truck arrived shortly afterward, and the two detectives -- who are also trained EMTs -- cleared the baby's airway and cut the umbilical cord, police said.

Additional NYPD patrol officers arrived and flagged down an ambulette, which took the family to New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center with a police escort. 

The infant, named Nicola, weighed 7 pounds, 6 ounces at birth and appears to be in good health. 

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