Quick-thinking New Jersey Transit Police officers saved the life of a 3-year-old boy who was choking to the point of turning blue earlier this month, dramatic body camera footage shows.
Transit cops at the Trenton station heard cries for help coming from a private bus at around 9:45 p.m. on April 16.
“Baby baby baby!” a person yells by the bus door as another hands the boy’s limp body over to the officers, video released by the department shows.
The child’s airway was obstructed and officers immediately sprang into action, giving CPR to the boy.
However, the object remained lodged in his throat and he began turning blue from lack of oxygen, NJ Transit police said.
“Is it coming out?” someone asks.
“No, he’s turning blue,” an officer says in the heart-stopping clip.
The child’s parents, who did not speak English, can be heard panicking and crying in the background.
Realizing that the not-breathing child needed further medical attention, K-9 Officer Timothy Geoghegan packed the tot into a police cruiser and made a bee-line for the hospital while Sgt. Michael Filandro continued to give CPR in the back of the car.
“Stay with me. Stay with me ok, buddy?” Filando repeatedly told the 3-year-old.
Suddenly, the child began breathing again.
“He’s moving air. He’s making noise,” Filando tells Geoghegan, as the boy begins whimpering, the clip shows.
“There we go! Alright! Good job!” he tells the boy, clearly relieved.
“An excellent job and a young life saved by the New Jersey Transit Police Officers,” the department said in a statement, saluting all the officers involved including Lieutenant Mark Frenzel and officers Roberto Tavares and Michael Virag.
