Fate Draws El Monte Cops Together 27 Years After Delivery

ARCADIA, CA —A story told around the El Monte police department drew an officer and his supervisor together in an unexpected way this week.

Officer Tyler Dominguez told his birth story, and how it led to his nickname "Blue," Patch learned. Exactly 27 years ago, Dominguez was born in the family driveway, the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, turning him blue. Emergency responders arrived, including a paramedic who delivered him into the word. That medic, he learned, was his now supervisor, Lt. Chris Cano.

Dominguez knew he always wanted to be a police officer, El Monte Sgt. Roger Cobian told us.

He began his career with the Arcadia Police Department before deciding two years ago to transfer and work in the town of his birth, according to Cobian. That's when the story emerged, stirring Cano's memory of the delivery.

Lt. Cano delivered 13 babies in his time as a medic in San Gabriel Valley. He joined the ranks of the El Monte Police Department in 1997, Cobian said.

Only one of the babies he delivered involved a newborn "fighting for his life with his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck," Cobian said. "In that instance, Lt. Cano freed the infant, who was turning a deep shade of blue - - saving his life."

Fate, it would seem, brought Cano and Dominguez together again.
"That's when Officer Dominguez shared that his unique middle name, 'Blue,' came from the blue hue his face and body displayed when he was born," Cobian said.

City News Service contributed to this report.