July 08--Taco Bell got an early start in the home delivery business, but it wasn't a chalupa that was delivered from the parking lot of a Kern County restaurant.
A Kern County family delivered a baby boy early Tuesday in the parking lot of the Taco Bell in Oildale, a community about four miles from Bakersfield.
At about 2:15 a.m., the family was headed to the San Joaquin Community Hospital because the pregnant mother was in labor, said Capt. Tyler Townsend of the Kern County Fire Department.
But the baby wasn't waiting for anyone, so the family was forced to pull into the Taco Bell on Olive Drive and Highway 99 to deliver him. Left with no other options, the mother delivered her baby in the front passenger seat of their car, Townsend said.
By the time firefighters arrived at the restaurant, they found the mother cradling her baby in her arms.
So they wrapped the baby up tight -- like a burrito, you might say -- and took the family to the nearby hospital.
The baby was healthy, Townsend said.
Taco Bell was set to begin doing some home delivery Wednesday.
As for the baby's new name, it's unclear, but hopefully it's not based on a menu item.
