Pregnant woman stranded in TZB jam gives birth
Woman gives birth in ambulance outside emergency room
SLEEPY HOLLOW - One woman stuck in Friday's Tappan Zee Bridge traffic jam found a unique way to get out of it - she went into labor.
From the state trooper who carried Ashley Larkin over the bridge's barrier, to the emergency workers that cleared a path for her makeshift ambulance - a state patrol car - to the EMS team that delivered her baby girl in a hospital parking lot, the birth of Maudie Emilia Larkin was a heroic team effort.
Recovering at Phelps Memorial Hospital Center, the baby and the mother are in fine health, spokeswoman Tina Dorfman confirmed.
Larkin, now a mother of two, left her home in Piermont on Friday morning and headed to the hospital with her husband, Brian. Unknown to them, a tractor trailer had just rolled over on the northbound side of the Tappan Zee Bridge, shutting down all seven lanes of the bridge
TZB: Suspension failure caused truck crash, 4-hour jam
With Ashley having contractions in the passenger seat, the couple found themselves stranded on the bridge, fifteen miles from the hospital.
State trooper Matthew Forestire happened to be in an unmarked patrol car behind the Larkins.
"I saw this car with its hazards on, the driver's arm sticking out, honking his horn and I immediately realized his wife was in severe distress," he said.
Forestire tried to inch through the traffic, siren's blaring, with the Larkin's trailing him. Nothing budged, so he got out of his car and along with Ashley's husband carried her over the bridge's central barrier.
"This was definitely a first for me," Forestire said.
Brian Larkin was forced to stay with his car and watch a waiting state patrol cruiser on the northbound side of the bridge, which was closed as emergency crews cleaned up debris from the accident, whisk his wife away.
WATCH: Dash-cam footage of TZB accident
As the patrol car reached the accident scene the trooper told Ashley that they were not likely to make it to the hospital in time.
Ashley, now alone and still having contractions, began to panic. But workers cleared a path through the metal debris, with some even cheering her along.
Once in Westchester, Ashley was transferred to a Tarrytown Volunteer Ambulance and rushed to Phelps Memorial. But she had waited long enough.
The baby was born just as the ambulance pulled up to the hospital.
"I don't think I'll ever have an experience like this again," Ashley said hours later as she recuperated in the hospital. "Within the span of 15 minutes I met the most amazing people, many of whom were strangers, who all helped me get a little part of the way to where I needed to be," she said.
"I'm just so grateful."