JUPITER OFFICER DELIVERS NEWBORN
Veteran Palm Beach County deputy calls moment unforgettable.
JUPITER — It was a moment veteran Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Deputy James Breslin likely won’t forget.
Breslin had seven minutes left on his patrol shift May 25 when he helped Ghita and Jack Sollazzo deliver their baby on the side of a road in Jupiter.
Breslin was traveling north on Military Trail near Donald Ross Road when a man driving a black Volkswagen SUV began desperately honking his horn.
“I knew something important was happening by the look on his face,” Breslin said at a reunion news conference with the Sollazzos on Friday at the Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office.
Breslin had the driver, Jack, pull over and immediately rushed to the couple’s aid.
Breslin first saw Ghita, who was lying inside the car in labor, and then he saw that the baby’s head was already visible. The baby was crowning less than two hours after Ghita’s first contraction.
“The baby’s out, and he’s turning blue,” Breslin said in footage captured by his dashboard camera, as he radioed a dispatcher to send an ambulance.
Minutes later, the baby’s head and shoulders emerged and Breslin grabbed hold. The baby, named Charlie, was born at 5:25 p.m.
Paramedics arrived soon after
and transported Ghita and her 9-pound, 2-ounce newborn to a hospital.
The Sollazzos, of Palm Beach Gardens, said Friday that the swift labor with Charlie came as a shock because Ghita’s labor with her first son lasted three days.
The Sollazzos described Breslin’s presence during the delivery as reassuring. Now, they say, Breslin is baby Charlie’s “Uncle Jimmy.”
“The family got bigger than expected,” Jack said with a smile.
Breslin said the circumstances of Charlie’s birth were nothing he had experienced in his 26-year career of public service. He said he has helped expectant mothers get to the hospital before, but he had never seen a labor so expeditious.
He said he has received more than 150 messages of support from coworkers, friends and family since last week.
“It’s the first thing I think of when I wake up,” Breslin said. “I think about it all the time.”
With Ghita’s right hand on Breslin’s shoulder, baby Charlie cradled in her left arm and Jack at their side, the trio drank in the happiness of a new life.
“We’re going to be bonded for a long time, that’s for sure,” Breslin said.