THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 30, 1995 TAG: 9510300029
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
To get to her wedding Saturday, a tardy bride borrowed something blue - two state police cars.
Then, just hours after the bridal delivery, a state trooper in Hampton delivered a baby boy who wouldn't wait until his parents got to the hospital.
``The bride was late and the baby was early,'' state police spokeswoman Tammy Van Dame said Sunday.
The frenetic weekend afternoon began just before 1 p.m. when state police Sgt. Dave Reckelhoff spotted a broken-down limousine on the shoulder of Interstate 464 near the Barnes Road overpass in Chesapeake.
Either a wheel or an axle had broken, and the driver had gone for help. Stranded in the stretch limo were a bride and about a half-dozen other members of the wedding party, including the bride's parents. All had to be at a Portsmouth church in less than 10 minutes.
Reckelhoff called for backup. Trooper Keith Hanzel responded.
Together, the trooper and the sergeant tried to fit the bride and her cascading dress into one of the state police sedans, but the dress was too bulky.
Fortunately, a group of wedding guests driving the same interstate happened upon the fiasco, and the bride boarded the guests' Cadillac.
The rest of the wedding party climbed into the blue-and-gray troopers' cars for the police procession to New Mount Olivet Baptist Church on County Street in Portsmouth.
They were just four minutes late.
``I've delivered three babies, but never a bridal party,'' Reckelhoff said.
The unusual interstate events continued Saturday when Trooper Mike Baker delivered a baby three hours later in Hampton.
Baker's cruiser was parked on the shoulder of Interstate 64 when a car carrying a frantic father-to-be pulled over in front of him at 3:15 p.m. The mother was also in the car, and the couple's baby was hurrying to join them.
``I was asking her if she could hold it, and she just kept saying, `I can't, I can't! It's coming, it's coming!' I was panicking,'' said the father, Shawn L. Burke
``I ran back to ask him if he could call for help. He went to his trunk for blankets, and when he got to the car and opened the door, the baby just popped out and he caught it. It seemed like he knew what he was doing. He was on his knees ready to catch it,'' said Burke, a 24-year-old cook.
An ambulance later met the trooper and couple on the interstate. Five-pound, 15-ounce Shawn Lee Burke Jr. and his mother, Debbie Barbour, are doing fine at Riverside Regional Medical Center. by CNB