The Sunday Independent

Metro cop goes the extra mile

TSHEPISO TSHABALALA tshepiso.tshabalala@inl.co.za

TO serve and to protect. This is an oath undertaken by every law enforcement officer when they graduate from the police academy.

To Evans Lebepe, this oath means going the extra mile, even when he is offduty. The former paramedic and current Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) officer went beyond the line of duty, on Monday afternoon when he helped a young woman give birth to a baby girl close to the Bree taxi rank, in downtown Joburg.

“I know when a lady is in labour, and she also told me that she knew that she was expecting a baby,” he said.

Though it was not the first time the 32-year-old Limpopo-born man assisted with childbirth, Lebepe was concerned about the safety of the mother and that of the child, as he did not have the proper medical equipment required during childbirth.

“I was not sure if the baby would be okay. I was worried about what would happen if the baby died in my arms, or what if something went wrong,” explained the officer.

His colleague, officer Ledwaba, who was with him at the time, assisted in managing the situation through crowd control, giving Lebepe enough room to perform the task at hand.

“I did not have anything to cut the umbilical cord. An unknown woman who was there ran to a shop and bought two new shoe laces and a pair of scissors. She handed them over to me, I took the measurements and tied the umbilical cord, then I cut it,” Lebepe said.

Shortly after he had cut the umbilical cord, the mother and her healthy newborn baby were later transported to Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital, 8km away from the scene.

Lebepe said, he cannot take all the credit for himself, and said he could have not completed the task without the aid of some of the women who chose to assist rather than be spectators. He even, in jest, said the emergency officer inside him refuses to leave, despite him switching careers.

“I give credit to all the ladies who were there and I hope to see them again. I agree that childbirth is natural and a baby can be born without the mother getting help from anyone. The most I did was to cut the umbilical cord,” said the modest officer.

Though Lebepe has neither spoken to nor seen the young mother, since she and the baby were admitted in hospital, he wished them well.

Lebepe said, he hoped they are in good and safe hands.

METRO

en-za

2021-07-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-07-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://thesundayindependent.pressreader.com/article/281655373101845

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