Woman gives birth at the World Trade Center's transportation hub
NEW YORK — There’s a first time for everything, and on Wednesday night the recently opened World Trade Center transit hub in lower Manhattan saw its first birth.
Mariam Suleman visited a New York City hospital earlier in the day when she started experiencing contractions, but she wasn’t dilated enough and was told to come back later, CBS New York reported.
She and her husband, Suraji Agbere, returned home to New Jersey, but later took the PATH train back into Manhattan.
“She said she can no longer walk so I have to call an ambulance,” he said. “So I saw two security officers standing and I went to them.”
Port Authority Police Officer Matthew Binkowitz was on patrol in the Oculus around 11 p.m. when he was approached by Agbere.
“He said ‘my wife’s in labor,’ so right away I turned around. I saw her standing there hunched over holding her stomach, so I ran over there right away,” he told CBS New York.
Binkowitz radioed in for assistance, and Officer Brian McGraw, a trained Emergency Medical Technician, and Sgt. Aaron Woody responded, police said.
The officers used drop cloths from a display to give the woman some privacy and within minutes McGraw delivered the healthy baby girl, police said.
Also on hand were the couple’s two young children.
“We just moved them aside so you know they don’t have to see what is happening,” Binkowitz said.
The baby, named Naheeda, and parents were taken to the hospital, where they later received a visit from the Port Authority officers bearing gifts.
“I feel wonderful, amazing,” Suleman said. “Thank God and the police officers.”
This wasn’t McGraw’s first delivery on the job. In August 2015, he delivered a healthy girl in the World Trade Center PATH Station.