A Texas security guard opened up about helping deliver a woman’s baby in an elevator on Mother’s Day.
On Mother’s Day in 2022, Elias Davila, a security guard at Medical City Dallas Hospital, was grieving his mother who had passed away a year prior.
“I was going to see if anybody wanted to leave early and I could cover their shift so they can be with their mom,” he told PEOPLE. “I didn’t have mine, and I was feeling kind of sad.”
Just before Davila’s shift ended, however, he ran into a panicked man — Adolfo Soto — in the lobby.
“He was like, ‘Hey, I need some help! My girlfriend is having a baby,'” Davila recalled.
Immediately, Davila sprung into action. Grabbing a wheelchair for the woman, named Betzabeth Perez, he rushed to the couple’s car outside.
“She was in the backseat and was already in labor, which I knew nothing about,” he confessed. “I was like, ‘Oh my God!’
“Her boyfriend, he panics, got in the car and took off to go park the car,” Davila continued. “So I was running down the lobby with her, calling on the radio, saying, ‘Give me some help.’
“Of course, the dispatcher dispatched everybody, but to a whole different location. So now I had nobody. I rounded the corner and pushed the button to the elevator. She started to scream, and I was like, ‘You’ve got to hold on. You can’t have your baby right now.’ As soon as I pushed the second button, she pulled down her pants.”
Texas Security Guard Helps Deliver Baby in Elevator
Once in the elevator, however, the baby could no longer wait — and Perez gave birth right then and there.
“So I grabbed the baby and the door opened again, and I stuck my foot out so the door wouldn’t shut,” Davila recalled.
He then explained that he simply handed Perez her baby as he pushed her wheelchair upstairs.
“The other security guard came in with me into the elevator and we took her to the third floor,” he said. “It was surreal. It was crazy.”
Today, Davila remains friends with the Perez, who sent him photos of her baby — Mia — on her first birthday.
“They sent me pictures, so I could see what she looks like now,” Davila said. “And when they came to see me, the little baby so naturally came straight to me. It is really weird, but she knows me. She just gave me her little arms and didn’t cry at all.”
Perez told PEOPLE she feels “totally grateful,” for Davila.
“He reassured me that everything was going to be fine and was super helpful throughout the whole process,” she said.