ELSMERE, Ky. — Two Elsmere officers received special awards for helping save the life of an unresponsive three-month-old baby in late April, the city announced Wednesday.
Officers Brian Evans, a new hire on his eighth day of work, and Alexis Day, a seven-year veteran of the service, were called to a Heartland Place home on April 26. The baby’s mother told them her child was not breathing.
“It was definitely nerve-wracking, but at that point the gear kicks in that you have to do something,” Evans said later. “We’ve been through CPR training, so we knew what we had to do.”
Body camera video shows Evans taking the quiet, still baby girl from her mother, laying her on her belly and slapping her on the back between her shoulder blades — a common technique to help choking infants.
She coughs and begins to cry, to the visible relief of family members gathered around the officers.
Evans and Day each received the city’s Life Saving Award from Mayor Marty Lenhof and police Chief Joe Maier.
Maier credited his department’s policy of training officers in CPR and advanced first aid with helping the pair save the girl’s life.
“I can’t tell how proud I am of both of these officers,” he wrote in a statement. “Parents can fully understand the fear when a child appears to stop breathing and becomes unresponsive. Not only were these officers on the scene in less than 60 seconds, but they proceeded in a calm and professional manner and their actions allowed that baby to start breathing again.”
