Police Officer Saves Choking Infant Inside LAPD Station
Dramatic bodycam video shows the moment Officer Nick Ferara of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) came to the aid of a baby boy who began choking and experiencing a seizure inside a police station on Tuesday, August 23.
The footage, which was released by LAPD on Wednesday, shows a family sitting on a bench in the reception area of the Harbor Community Police Station when the father suddenly jumps up with his child in his arms and rushed toward a drinking fountain.
Officer Ferara told a press conference on Thursday that the father began wetting the boy’s hair and told Ferara the boy was choking and having a seizure. As Ferara lifted the baby up, the boy starting gasping for air and then went limp, Ferara said. The officer then placed the baby face-down across his knee and began patting him on the back to clear a suspected blockage child’s airways, at which point the baby then stopped moving entirely, Ferara said.
“I hear the heart racing super fast but I couldn’t hear or feel the lungs moving at all, so I was terrified,” Ferara said.
They then brought the baby to a bathroom where Ferara said he began “doing rescue pats on the back really hard” and splashing water in the boy’s face. “That’s when I felt a gasp of air,” Ferara said, prompting him lay the baby down and turn him into a side position after which the boy “made a full recovery.” Credit: LAPD via Storyful
Video transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
- [INAUDIBLE]
NICK FERARA: Is he breathing?
- Come in, Come in.
[THUMPING]
- Come in, come in, come in. I need the water.
NICK FERARA: I can't. Wait, I don't know if he's breathing right now.
[THUMPING]
- I'll get him water.
NICK FERARA: He's not breathing. Hold on.
[THUMPING]
You called the ambulance?
[GASPING]
[THUMPING]
Come on, come on, come on, come on.
[GASPING]
Breathe, come on.
[GASPING]
[THUMPING]
- [INAUDIBLE].
NICK FERARA: Huh?
- Give him rescue breaths. Is he not breathing?
NICK FERARA: I don't know if he's breathing.
[GASPING]
- No, he's breathing.
NICK FERARA: He is?
- Yeah, he is.
NICK FERARA: OK.
- The ambulance is coming.
- OK, OK. He looks good though.
- [INAUDIBLE].
- Do you guys need any help on the phone? You know that he's breathing?
- Yes.
NICK FERARA: I think he's breathing. I think he's breathing.
- [INAUDIBLE].
NICK FERARA: OK, better. There he is.
- [INAUDIBLE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
