By Steve Neavling
An off-duty Border Patrol agent helped deliver a baby boy in a public bathroom in San Diego.
On Jan. 15, Agent George Huertas, who is a member of the agency’s Search, Trauma and Rescue (BORSTAR) Team in San Diego, heard about the woman giving birth in a public bathroom at Liberty Station and responded.
“If you know George, you know he is too humble to bring this up for attention,” Michael E. McEwan, the acting commander of San Diego BORSTAR, said in a statement Friday. “He only told a group of us in passing during muster and downplayed the whole incident.”
Huertas was with his family at Liberty Station for a Miracle Babies Superhero 5K event. With a son who spent the first three months of his life in the NICU, Huertas is active in the premature baby community.
His sister alerted him to the woman giving birth in the restroom.
A trained emermgency medical technician, Huertas rushed to the restroom and found the woman giving birth in one of the stalls. Using rubber gloves from a janitor, Huertas provided aid to the woman and her unborn child and helped stimulate the baby boy and initiate breathing.
He wrapped with baby in a blanket, cleaned his face and introduced the child to his mother.
“George responds to those in need on and off duty,” McEwan said. “He is a strong advocate for those under his care. He truly embodies what it means to be a BORSTAR Agent and lives our moniker ‘So Others May Live.’”
