LAPD Officer Sergeant Bumjim Kim saved a choking baby girl's life after the baby's parents approached him in the middle of his patrol in Los Angeles, California, on January 19. The incident was caught on camera.
While patrolling Echo Park, distressed parents holding a lifeless three-year-old approached Kim asking for help to save their child. The video showed a man crying and asking him, "Please, officer! Please! I don't know what's wrong!"
Airway obstruction
The officer leaped into action. He immediately performed a procedure to remove the obstruction on the baby girl's airway. "My concern was that she looked really, really pale, "Kim said in an interview with NBC news later.
He said they have training on breathing and air compression. "I have a three-year-old son, and he stuffs his face all the time, so I was thinking obstruction hazard."
Sgt. Kim worked to clear the obstruction. The procedure, which included LAPD training and paternal instinct, took only a minute.
"During the flipping of the mouth, I thought I felt something. Whatever it was that was obstructing, I believe came out, based on the fact that she was breathing and crying really loud," he said.
The Los Angeles Fire Department arrived minutes after, and they took the toddler to the nearest hospital, where she was treated and is now listed in stable condition.
'Just doing my job'
Kim told the NBC reporter that he only realized he had just saved a baby's life ten minutes later. "I thought about my child, I thought about my wife, if she had been in a similar situation, she would probably also be totally relieved," Kim said.
People have been commending the officer, calling him a hero. The officer was unfazed, saying that he was just at the "right place, at the right time."
He believes that of the thousands of police officers in Los Angeles, they would probably do the same if the situation calls for it.
Kim also said he spoke to the father of the baby girl. "I spoke to the dad, and he was grateful...We shared a hug because I think it was a sigh of relief between both of us as fathers."
Kim said that he is thankful that he could make a difference in the family's life. He also said he plans to meet the family again to give the little girl a teddy bear with a police vest.
Airway obstruction happens when a child's throat or upper airway is blocked with small items, making it difficult to breathe. Around 5,000 children at the age of 14, a majority under four years of age, are treated in hospital emergency rooms every year for airway obstruction. Around 650 children die every year in the US due to air obstruction, strangulation, or choking.
Kim is being hailed as a hero after the video of the choking baby girl went viral.
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