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Bob Collins

No ticket for motorist who helped deliver the cop as a baby

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Here's your daily dose of sweetness:

You know what can get you out of a ticket if crying doesn't work? Being the person who delivered the cop into the world.

Granted, Matthew Bailly probably wasn't going get a ticket from New Jersey State Trooper Michael Patterson for having a cover over his license plate anyway. Bailly is in the brotherhood. He's an ex-cop.

But he's also the guy who delivered Patterson.

https://www.facebook.com/NewJerseyStatePolice/videos/1666831433371392/

Patterson took note of Bailly's address from his driver's license and later left a note at his home, the Washington Post says. Bailly invited Patterson over. The trooper brought his mother, who plays a pretty important role in the story.

njsp
Photo: New Jersey State Police.

Patterson’s mother, Karen Patterson, told the story she tells every year on Michael’s birthday, Oct. 5.

It was 1991, and she was due any day. She decided to go to the grocery store with her oldest son, Terek, who was 10. She began having contractions so severe that she was bent over in pain as she checked out.

Her water broke before she left the parking lot. She drove home with her legs clamped tight.

When she arrived home, her husband, Bobby Patterson, ran outside and carried her in. He called 911 and her doctor.

Bailly, new on the force, arrived at the house soon after. Within minutes, the baby was born. The umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck, and Bobby Patterson had to gently lift it off. They named the baby Michael.

Bailly, who helped make sure everything was okay at the house and got mother and baby into an ambulance, didn’t have kids yet — it was the first time he’d seen a baby be born. It was monumental for him, and he, too, has told the story countless times over his career.

The trooper's wife is expecting in a few weeks. Bailly says he's available.

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