'DE-LIVERY' CAB
A Big Apple livery driver calmly coached a woman through childbirth in the back of his SUV — but didn’t even get a tip for his trouble and was left with a $190 cleanup bill.
Luis Leonardo, 34, told The Post that last month’s back-seat miracle, in which a mom is seen in a dashcam video giving birth on the way to the hospital, was the third time he’s had a passenger go into labor in his cab.
“I was just ready for the situation,” the father of two said of his staying cool under pressure during the dramatic birth on Brooklyn’s Eastern Parkway in the early hours of July 13.
By the end of the video, which surfaced online Wednesday, the licensed TLC driver told the stunned new father: “You better hook me up with a little extra for the car wash, man.”
But the father only covered the $30 fare, Leonardo said, and left him to cover the $190 bill to clean the leather interior of his Toyota Highlander.
Despite this, the cabby said there were no hard feelings.
“Like I said, don’t worry about it. God bless the baby,” he told The Post. “We got a bigger situation. It pays for itself in the future. It doesn’t matter.”
He cleaned the vehicle himself outside Methodist Hospital in Park Slope, saying, “I got some gloves and did it . . . I wasn’t waiting to go to the car wash.”
The 440 Car Service driver helped deliver two boys in 2014 when different women went into labor in his back seat, adding that those births were “messier.”
That’s because in the latest case, “My understanding is her water broke before she got into the car. That was her situation. But you know, we did what we had to do.”
Leonardo has kept in touch with the new parents and said his colorful instructions — telling the mom, “Honey, you got to breathe, Mami” — was his attempt to keep the couple calm.
“I had to keep it Brooklyn. Keep the slant going on, you know?” he said. “You never know what’s going to happen. Only your reaction. You just got to take care of the situation.”
While driving to the hospital, Leonardo instructed, “Pull it out. Do the magic. Do the magic. Spread your legs, damn.
“The baby’s all right, just move the legs off the seat. We’re driving. Everything is done, you got the s--t done. God bless the baby.”
The stunned mom — whose identity has not been revealed — said, “I just gave birth in the car.”
It’s the second recent birth of its kind in the area. Another woman delivered a baby in her car outside a Long Island Costco on Monday.