Police Help Deliver Baby on Side of Route 1

An impatient newborn caused a Piscataway couple to deliver the child on the side of the road Friday night just miles from reaching the hospital.Shortly before 11 p.m., South Brunswick Police Officer Jamal Benbow was patrolling Route 1 when he was waved down by the infant's father, age 43, near the New Road intersection just six miles from the hospital. The man and his wife, 34, were on the way to the hospital for the birth of their fifth child, when they knew they weren't going to make it to the University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro in time, said police spokesman Sgt. Jim Ryan. So with the couple's four other children, all under the age of 10, sitting in the back seat, the father performed the delivery of the couple's fifth child on the side of the road."The officer arrived and called for an ambulance, but within about two minutes the baby was born," Sgt. Ryan said. "The father was very excited and started hugging all of the officers."The majority of the delivery was performed by the father, with Officer Benbow wrapping up the baby in a blanket right after he was born. The Kendall Park First Aid and Rescue Squad responded to the scene and transported the happy family the final six miles to the hospital.Both mother and child were reported to be in good condition, police said.