Safety Patrol Driver Helps Mom Having Baby on Turnpike
Andrenna Reid never got the name of the man who helped her June 16 after she pulled over along the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
“I get a knock on the door, and the next thing you know, it’s a tow-truck driver,” Reid told Action News 6 ABC of Philadelphia. “He says, ‘Do you need help, is everything OK?’ I was like, ‘Oh no, I just had a baby.’”
King of Prussia mother recalls giving birth on side of Pennsylvania Turnpike - 6abc Philadelphia
It turns out that helpful stranger wasn’t a tow-truck driver – he was actually Robert Stenger, who is part of the Turnpike’s Safety Patrol team out of the Plymouth Meeting Maintenance Facility.
“That’s something you don’t see every day,” Stenger said about the Father’s Day Turnpike birth.
And he should know. Stenger has been a Maintenance Utility Worker on the Turnpike for the last 14 years, and though he’s seen it all, he was impressed with how calm Reid was through the whole ordeal.
It happened around 3 a.m. June 16 at mile marker 337.5 in the eastbound lane between the Norristown and Ft. Washington interchanges. Turnpike Traffic Operations Center Manager Nate Keel said his team took the call from the county’s 911 center and dispatched Maintenance crews and the Pennsylvania State Police. They had a little trouble finding the right car due to the county providing the wrong location, but Keel’s team worked with the 911 center to find the right place.
And that’s when Stenger pulled up to Reid’s car – though he wasn’t sure at first if he had the right vehicle.
“‘Excuse me, ma’am, but by any chance, are you having a medical emergency?’” Stenger recalled asking the driver. “That’s when I saw what was happening.”
The King of Prussia mom told 6 ABC that she had gone to the hospital earlier that weekend and was sent home because she wasn’t ready to deliver. But her new son, Santana Reid, had other plans, prompting the late-night drive to the hospital.
In the moments Stenger stood at her car window, Santana was born.
“I said, ‘He looks good, the color is good, the baby is breathing.’ He wasn’t screaming, but I knew he had air flow,” Stenger recalled. “I told her, ‘We’re calm, you’re calm, everything is going to be OK.’”
Moments later, two state troopers arrived, soon followed by an ambulance. Stenger works often with the state police and EMS and said working together to help Reid was like a well-oiled machine.
Stenger is the kind of guy who is happy to do his job without a lot of fanfare, but that was a special night for all, and Plymouth Meeting Maintenance Facility Foreman Steve Stine said he was proud of how Stenger handled the event.
“It feels great anytime you’re able to help someone in a bad situation,” Stine said.
And Keel was proud of his crew at the *11 center jumping into action to help guide Stenger to the right location.
“These are always feel-good incidents instead of what we normally deal with day to day,” Keel said. “The overnight team did a great job getting the location corrected and services there in a timely manner.”
For Stenger, it was a special day.
“I see a lot of rough stuff on the highway, so it’s nice to see something positive once in a while,” Stenger said. “It was a really cool experience.”
This is the second baby born on the PA Turnpike this year. Lottie Holmes was born March 21 between the Beaver Valley and Cranberry interchanges.
(Photo courtesy of Action News 6 ABC: Santana Reid was born on the PA Turnpike June 16).
By Steve Marroni, PA Turnpike Communications Specialist