UpSide Classic: Rookie cops make a delivery

This article originally appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News on Dec. 19, 1989.

Darren Monaghan and Bill Judge, a pair of rookie police officers, yesterday became a couple of veterans real fast.

Reeeaally fast. Like five minutes fast.

Rack it up to the hands-on experience Monaghan and Judge went through in the rear bedroom of a Logan rowhouse shortly after 11 a.m.

Within five minutes the rookies became vets when -- despite being “nervous as hell” -- they helped deliver a baby boy.

It was the first delivery for both.

Cops, that is.

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The officers, both attached to the 35th District, Broad and Champlost Streets, were on routine patrol when they received a report of a “hospital case” in a house on Fisher Avenue near Ninth Street.

When Monaghan and Judge arrived, they found Jennifer Sanders, 23, in bed in a "very small" rear bedroom about to give birth.

After calling for a fire rescue unit, the officers started "getting things set up" for the rescue squad.

"The next thing I knew the baby was screaming," said Monaghan, 29, a father of two. "Bill grabbed the baby, unraveled the cord from around its neck, then handed it to me. I cleared the nose and mouth. "

Monaghan and Judge, police officers since August and September, respectively, then wrapped the baby in a towel and waited for the rescue squad.

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Both mother and child -- 6-pound, 7-ounce Aki Tremain Sanders -- were reported in good condition at Albert Einstein Medical Center, Northern Division.

“It happened just the way they said it would, but we were still scared to death when it happened,” Monaghan said of the actual delivery compared with what they had been taught at the Police Academy.

"We were nervous as hell, too," he added.

Monaghan and Judge paused for a moment to reflect on their rewarding -- and productive -- day as police rookies.

“Everything’s not bad out there,” said Monaghan.

UPdate: In the years following the delivery, both officers reached the rank of sergeant. Sgt. Darren Monaghan died in 2017. He was 56. Sgt. William Judge celebrated 30 years on the police force in September.