Here's a Feel Good just in time for this Father's Day Weekend! A routine traffic stop on June 1st turned into a special reunion, one nearly three decades in the making.
New Jersey State Trooper Micheal Patterson pulled over retired police officer Matthew Bailly for a minor traffic violation , the two quickly struck up a conversation when they discovered that officer Bailly had served in Piscataway, the same township where Patterson grew up.
"We started talking because I'm also from Piscataway. We started talking about guys that we know, different locations that we're familiar with," Patterson recalled. One thing had lead to another and it slowly dawned on them that this was no ordinary encounter.
Patterson then began talking about the street he grew up on, Poe Place.
"Mr Bailly said, 'Why do I remember Poe Place?" As he kept thinking, he remembered he delivered a baby on that street.
As it turns out, in 1991, Bailly was called to Piscataway when a woman who had been out shopping suddenly went into labor. She was able to rush home as her husband phoned a doctor, and with Bailly on the scene listening to instructions, he helped deliver this the woman's baby boy.
Officer Patterson was also familiar with a similar story of a baby being born with the help of a quick-thinking officer. A story he has actually heard told numerous times in his life.
After hearing Bailly perfectly describe the neighborhood to a tee, 26 year old Patterson realized who he had in front of him.
Now retired officer Matthew Bailly had help deliver officer Micheal Patterson 27 years ago.
"I just extended my right hand," says Patterson, "and I said, "Sir, my name is Micheal Patterson, it's a pleasure to meet you, and thank you for delivering me.'"
The two men relished in the happy coincidence that had brought them together after so long. The men exhanged information, and later Micheal called his mother Karen Patterson who was just as floored.
"This kind of thing happens maybe once in a lifetime."