After Mariam Suleman, in bed, went into labor in the middle of the Oculus transit hub on Oct. 5, Port Authority cops, from left, Inspector Ronald Shindel, Lt. Scot Pomerantz, and Officer Matthew Binkowitz helped her bring lovely Naheeda (whose name means “beautiful” in Arabic) safely into the world — much to the relief of her father Suraji Agbere, at right.
BY DENNIS LYNCH
The Oculus train station had an unscheduled arrival on Oct. 5, when a woman on her way to an uptown hospital gave birth right beneath the icon’s cathedral-like roof.
Mariam Suleman was on her way to Lenox Hill Hospital from New Jersey with her husband Suraji Agbere around 11 p.m. when Suleman told him she couldn’t go any further. Agbere told Port Authority police officer Matthew Binkowitz that his wife was going in to labor, and the officer immediately radioed for backup and an ambulance.
But little baby Naheeda- — whose name means “beautiful” in Arabic — wasn’t going to wait. Binkowitz’s buddies Sergeant Aaron Woody and Officer Brian McGraw — who is also an emergency medical technician — rushed to the rescue. They used a tarp to set up an impromptu delivery room around Suleman for privacy, and within 10 minutes the impatient infant was cooing at commuters, according to the Port Authority.
The surreal, almost dream-like setting for Naheeda’s birth was not lost on the mother.
“The Oculus is so beautiful, and to have my baby born in a place like that is a memory I’ll never forget,” Suleman said. “We are very thankful for the police officers. They were very kind and amazing and God bless them.”
Naheeda’s father was amazed at the officers’ calm professionalism.
“I would like to extend my gratitude to them and I was very surprised that they knew what to do, I thought they were doctors,” he said. “It is wonderful to have both of my girls healthy and safe.”
There’s a reason why the officers didn’t have a cow when Suleman started to have her baby. Naheeda was actually the second baby McGraw and Binkowitz helped deliver together at that station.
Last August, they delivered a baby girl at the Oculus’s predecessor, the World Trade Center PATH station. Binkowitz and a Port Authority Police Department delegation later visited Naheeda and her parents at their intended destination, Lenox Hill Hospital. Binkowitz and McGraw called the experience “incredible.”
The Port Authority noted that architect Santiago Calatrava’s sleek and modern design of the Oculus was meant to represent rebirth following the 9/11 attacks.
