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New Life In The Fast Lane For Happy Couple

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Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: October 12, 2008

Just call Jahquez Tucker the I-75 baby.

Jahquez was born Wednesday in the passenger seat of a 1998 green Ford Explorer on the side of Interstate 75.

The 7-pound, 8-ounce boy and his mother, Angie Franklin, 29, are fine and back at their West Lakeland home.

"The only thing that was going through my mind was getting the baby out," Franklin said. "It hurt bad, but I wasn't thinking about where I was or anything."

Jahquez's father, Reginald Tucker, 39, helped his girlfriend give birth north of Fort Myers.

"They say, 'never let them see you sweat,' but inside I was a volcano," Tucker said from the Peace River Regional Medical Center in Port Charlotte. "I was scared."

Franklin went to Fort Myers earlier this week with Tucker, who was sent there on a job. Her doctor had told her not to travel because they planned to induce labor at South Florida Baptist Hospital in Plant City, but Franklin said she wanted to be with someone.

"Everyone told me not to come," Franklin said.

The couple were about 20 minutes into their return trip from Fort Myers to Plant City when Franklin began to feel sharp pains.

Initially, Tucker said he thought they could make it to the hospital, but then he saw the baby's head. He pulled the SUV over to the side of the road, jumped out and dialed 911 as he ran to the passenger-side door.

Tucker opened Franklin's door, placed his hand on the baby's head and asked her to stop pushing. But Franklin could not stop.

"She was screaming," Tucker said.

When Jahquez was born, Tucker said he turned the baby over to clear its airway, then handed the infant to his weary mother.

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