Cop delivers skilled service in catching baby

[caption id="attachment_198867" align="alignright" width="300"] Warrant Officer Roderick Middlecamp
Picture: Supplied[/caption]

A burly “midwife” in the form of a Despatch policeman exchanged crime-fighting for something a little more labour-intensive when he delivered a baby in the lounge of a Khayamnandi residence early yesterday.

Warrant Officer Roderick Middlecamp, 45, said while he had not anticipated the very different call of duty, the thought of delivering his third baby on the job did not faze him too much.

Responding to a call for police assistance shortly after 1am yesterday, Middlecamp arrived at the Somi Street home to the sounds of expectant mother Nontuthuzelo Mhalatshana, 23, screaming in pain.

Following the short labour, he noticed that the umbilical cord coiled around the neck of the newborn girl was suffocating her.

Honing his instinctive midwife skills – having delivered his first baby in 2004 and a second in 2013 – he said he simply unwrapped the umbilical cord, allowing the infant to breathe.