A patrol officer who was about to pull over a speeding vehicle in Belleville ended up helping a couple deliver a baby.

Belleville Police Staff Sergeant Chris Barry said a patrol officer spotted a speeding vehicle during the early hours of Sunday morning and was about to pull it over when the car suddenly stopped on its own close to the officer's cruiser on North Front Street.

Barry said the man driving the car jumped out and told the officer he'd been racing to get his wife to a hospital to deliver her baby, but the baby decided it couldn't wait.

With the officer's help the woman gave birth to a boy at the side of the road in front of a grocery store.

Mother and child were then transported to hospital, where they are both said to be doing well.