ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn. — It’s not the 911 call St. Louis Park police officer Maddie Turnquist expected on a night shift a few weeks ago — helping deliver a baby wasn’t part of the job description when she took an oath to protect and serve her community.
“We’re not taught how to deliver babies, no,” she joked.
But she answered the call and a doctor’s, too, to help guide her through the delivery. With Turnquist and other officers on the scene, baby Theo made his big debut in the backseat of his parents’ car.
“I was focused on that and the mom and making sure the baby cried when [he] came out and make sure [he] was breathing,” Turnquist told WCCO.
His grandfather, John Tragiai, said Theo and his mom, Katelyn, are healthy and doing well. He later called the St. Louis Park police chief to express his gratitude for their help, but also to share that his family intimately understands the important work they do.
Tragiai was himself an officer in the St. Cloud Police Department. But that’s not where the law enforcement ties end. He came into his daughter Katelyn’s life after his wife and Katelyn’s mother, Wendy, had lost her then-husband St. Joseph police officer Brian Kleinfelter in the line of duty.