"I made sure the scene was secured and then I ran to the van and opened the passenger side door: There was an Hispanic woman, slightly reclined, with her legs parted, and the baby was coming. She was rather calm ... considering her duress. The mother-in-law was aiding her along, I had my hands down there, there was moderate traffic along Lake Mead, some pedestrians walking by (the way we were parked, in front of the parking entrance to a convenience store on the northwest corner, with the broken windshield car in front of my patrol car and the van behind it, all of us facing south) and the people in the convenience store knew what was going on, they could see it.
"And then, just like that, the baby was in my hands, but still attached to the mother. The umbilical cord, you know," says Tonry, a father of one who was present at his child's birth but did not partake in it. "I cleaned the baby's mouth out and I rubbed its back until it started crying and then I kept it crying. It was a boy.
"I held the baby there between her thighs, to keep it warm. The father of the baby showed up. Officers have a way of making light of every situation, so I started teasing a little to keep everyone calm. (Even though it was me who went kinda hysterical afterwards.) The medics took like 30 hours to come."
In reality, officer Tonry's initial call came in at 7:56 a.m., and then he reported the baby's delivery at 7:57 a.m. By 8:10 a.m., the medics had taken mother and child to Sunrise Hospital, where a bill of perfect health was issued to both, and officer Tonry returned to police headquarters, to return his spirit to his body.
"I gave the father my cell-phone number before he left, so that he could let me know how the baby was doing," says Tonry, his eyes surrendering to the moist thought of affection. "They called and asked what my middle name was, and after I told them, they said they were going to change the baby's middle name to Eddy, in my honor."
Officer Tonry cleared his throat before offering the story's epilogue.
"Oh, yeah: The guy I pulled over for the cracked windshield—I told him to just leave the scene. I guess you could say I was a little preoccupied.
"But I got his tag number and tracked him down later that day ...
"Just kidding. "