A brand new Arkansas police officer (and dad) acted fast — resulting in him saving a newborn baby’s life.
Pottsville Police Officer Cody Hubbard, 23, answered a call for a 3-week-old boy who was choking on anti-gas drops.
“We were trying to give Grady his medicine … and he was taking them just fine,” Joe Chronister, the baby’s father, told “Fox & Friends” last Saturday. “Right towards the end, he started choking.”
According to the Mayo Clinic: “Choking is a common cause of injury and death in young children, primarily because their small airways are easily obstructed. It takes time for babies to master the ability to chew and swallow food, and babies might not be able to cough forcefully enough to dislodge an airway obstruction. As babies explore their environments, they also commonly put objects into their mouths — which can lead to infant choking.”
Baby Grady then began to “turn purple” and suddenly stopped breathing. Joe and his wife Katelin quickly called 911.
It is unclear just how long exactly the baby was choking for.
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Hubbard rushed to the scene “freaking out” the whole time, he said. He arrived and quickly clapped Grady on the back to dislodge the drops. Hubbard’s rescue was captured by his body camera.
“It was life-changing,” Hubbard said. Hubbard, who is also a dad, had experienced the same problem with his daughter.
“Whenever I rolled up on this call, anytime I deal with something that involves a child, I think about how the parents would want me to treat the child as if it was mine,” the cop shared.
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After the incident, Hubbard went into his car and started crying because it “felt good” to see how well things turned out, according to FOX 16.
Hubbard will receive a life-saving award later this month. And according to his parents, Baby Grady is doing fine.
To prevent your child from choking, Mayo Clinic recommends you properly time the introduction of solid foods, do not offer high-risk foods, supervise mealtime, carefully evaluate your child’s toys and of course, keep hazardous objects out of reach. To learn more about how to prevent your infant from choking, be sure to click here.
You can watch the full video of Baby Grady’s life being saved, below.
