News

Actions

Provo couple involved in rollover crash was rushing to hospital to as mom was in labor

Posted at 10:07 PM, Mar 23, 2016
and last updated 2016-03-24 00:07:44-04

PROVO, Utah -- Being in labor is intense enough as it is, but then imagine getting into a rollover accident on the way to the hospital and ending up trapped inside your vehicle.

That's what happened to a couple in Provo Tuesday afternoon, and the mother and baby are now recovering at Utah Valley Hospital.

Officer Austin Williams of the Provo Police Department was the first on the scene.

"I was prepared to deliver a baby," Williams said.

Williams was watching for speeders on State Street, when his day, much like traffic, took a strange turn.

"I hear a loud crash, I look up and I see a truck sliding on its side through the intersection," Williams said.

A man, rushing his 18-year-old girlfriend in labor to the hospital, crashed his truck into another car at the intersection of 1720 North State Street.

"I got to the front windshield and found both individuals in the vehicles standing upright in the windshield," Williams said.

The situation quickly escalated.

"Immediately they started yelling at me, saying that the lady in there was going to have a baby and she was obviously very pregnant," Williams said.

However, the couple was trapped inside the truck.

"And she says, 'It's coming out now,'" Williams added.

Williams said instinct immediately kicked in.

"I grabbed the tire iron and smashed the back window and then did a sweep to clear all the glass out, luckily she was able to fit through the back window, that was a concern of mine," Williams said.

A witness at a nearby business said she was surprised to see the mom-to-be actually walking away.

"It was just now that I found out she was pregnant, and I have two boys, so that's terrifying to think that she was just down the street from the hospital and something like that happened," said Hannah Peterson.

Williams said the couple didn't suffer any injuries, but he was unsure about the baby.

"I was asking her if the baby was moving, I was asking her what her contractions were," Williams said.

An ambulance took the couple to the hospital, where Williams had a chance to speak with the expectant mother before she gave birth.

"And at that point she told me that the doctor had told her that baby was good and healthy and everything looked well," Williams said.

The mother gave birth around noon on Wednesday. Both mom and baby are doing well, according to Utah Valley Hospital.

The father driving the truck was issued a ticket for a moving violation. The man in the other vehicle involved in the crash was uninjured.