Three D.C. Metro employees are being honored for their quick actions in helping to deliver a baby onboard a train.
Latasha Bostic, José Flores and Thomas Adams were cleaning the New Carrollton Metro station on the afternoon of July 13, when someone summoned them for help.
Bostic said that while she was cleaning, someone came up to her asking if she had a cart or a crate. Confused, she questioned why they needed the items, and the person responded, “There’s a lady on the train, she’s about to give birth.”
Bostic said she was able to keep the train from departing and notified the station manager to call 911. Then, she and her co-workers got personal protective equipment and towels and got on the train to help the woman.
“It was hectic,” Bostic said in an interview obtained by 7News.
The rail car cleaners said another challenge was that the mother, who was in pain, did not speak English, and so they did their best to help. Others on the train also stayed to help until first responders arrived.
Adams said he thought an ambulance would have arrived before the baby was born, but the baby wasn’t waiting that long.
“By the time you turned your head to see if the fire department or EMS was coming, the baby was halfway out,” Adams said.
Paramedics arrived a short time later, and the mom and her new baby boy were taken to a hospital. Their conditions are not known.
The workers who stepped up to help said this is a story they won’t soon forget.
“I just hope she names the baby Carrollton after the station,” Adams joked.
See video of the three Metro workers being recognized from news partners 7News below.
