BERKELEY, CALIF. – A San Francisco mother and her newborn daughter are doing well Tuesday after a harrowing experience Monday night when she got stuck in Highway 80 traffic caused by Berkeley protesters on her way to the hospital.
According to a statement from 29-year-old Adriana Torres given to KTVU by Alta Bates Medical Center, Torres' contractions were two minutes apart when her sister called 9-1-1 for help.
Berkeley firefighters had a tough time getting to her.
"The traffic was already backed up from University [to] Ashby and Gilman," explained Fire Chief Gil Dong. “So trying to locate her, one of our battalion chief used his red lights and sirens and went through the opposite traffic to find the patient. He got her into his vehicle and took her out. Instead of bringing in the fire engine and ambulance to her, we took her out to a location where we could safely transfer the patient and transport her to the hospital.”
Torres got to the hospital at 10:18 p.m. Monday night. At 2:05 a.m. Tuesday morning, she delivered an almost 8 pound baby girl who she named Camilla.
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It turned out Torres wasn't the only one who has needed help amidst protests over the last three days.
“There were 16 calls that involved what we call inside the perimeter or inside the hot zone where protestors or another threat of violence is located,” said Dong.
Dong said they also had to drive out a stroke patient last night and used bicycle officers to secure the scene after a person was injured in a fall on city streets.
The Chief told KTVU those kinds of calls always take longer and says response time delays range from five to 25 minutes.
For more stories go to ktvu.com
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