UofL police officer helps deliver baby on downtown sidewalk

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A University of Louisville police officer's Monday morning shift started off with quite a bit of excitement to help jump start her day.

"It was better than any cup of coffee I've ever had," Officer Tonya Ballard said.

Ballard clocks in around 6 a.m. each day and patrols the same few blocks, looking for anything out of the ordinary. But on Monday morning, it's what she heard that caught her attention.

"I just hear yelling," Ballard said. "I don't know quite what I'm hearing. I just hear yelling. And it's unusual for that time of the morning, because there's not a lot of people out."

Officer Tanya Ballard — Tonya Ballard, an officer with the University of Louisville Police Department. Aug. 25, 2025. *(WDRB Photo)*

Ballard followed that yelling to the side of a parking garage at Chestnut and Preston streets. There, she found a young woman in active labor laying in the grass.

Ballard radioed for EMS, but time was running out.

"Once I saw the top of his head, I realized 'OK, we're going to have to do this,'" Ballard said Monday. "When the baby came out, I just supported his head until his shoulders came out, and I supported the rest of his body and he was out."

Ballard said only about 10 minutes passed from the time she encountered the woman to the time the baby was born. She's been on the job for 28 years and said this was a first.

"It's refreshing to have a day where it starts out on a such a high note," Ballard said. "It's rare."

It's the days like this that keep her coming back to patrol day after day.

"People see the police and, a lot of times, they think about the negative. But that's not what I come to work for," Ballard said. "I'm not coming to work to get anybody in trouble or to try to take somebody to jail. I'm here to help in whatever way I can. And today, it just so happened to be to help someone have a baby."

There was a language barrier, so Ballard was grateful for the Spanish-speaking officers helping on scene. The woman and baby were doing well after the delivery and were taken to UofL Hospital right across the street.

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