Off-Duty Officer Gets Flagged Down, Saves 3 Month Old Baby in Heroic Video
It sometimes seems like the media goes out of its way to put police officers in a bad light. You can’t go two days without seeing a story or comment that portrays America’s law enforcement officers as violent and racist, even though this doesn’t match reality.
An amazing dash cam video from Florida is dismantling that narrative, and shows those who wear the badge as true everyday heroes.
Deputy Jeremie Nix was on his way home after finishing his shift in Marion County, Florida. Off duty but still in his official police car, he suddenly noticed a chilling sight: A driver was frantically waving him down, and something was clearly wrong.
“When Nix made a U-turn to meet the motorist, a woman exited the passenger side of the vehicle holding an unresponsive infant and talking frantically on the phone,” explained USA Today. “Nix rushed into action.”
The off-duty officer began CPR on the child, and his dash camera recorded the harrowing incident. But the infant still wasn’t breathing.
Nix made a decision. Taking the baby with him into his car, he radioed to dispatch. “I’m not waiting on medics. … I’m headed to the emergency room with the baby.”
That split-second decision saved the young child’s life. Thankfully, the baby named Kingston made a full recovery.
“Doctors also said that because of K9 Deputy Nix’s actions, Baby Kingston is alive today,” the sheriff’s department posted on Facebook. “We are tremendously proud of Deputy Nix and we can already see that he and Baby Kingston will have a deep connection that will last a lifetime!”
In an interview with ABC News, Deputy Nix explained what was running through his head during the emergency.
“It was not just a work-related thing at that moment,” he recalled. “It wasn’t a duty responsibility. It was a dad. This could be my child.”
“When she handed me that baby, I turned into dad… the dad role,” he told the news outlet.
The mother of the child told ABC that she wants to make sure her son knows about the officer’s heroic actions once he is old enough to understand.
This is the side of America’s law enforcement officers that needs to be seen more often. No day is routine, and police never know what situation they may be entering while on duty… or even when heading home after a long day.
At the same time, this is a perfect example of viewing people as individuals regardless of their skin color or background.
In the moment of emergency, Deputy Nix saw just one thing: Every parent’s worse nightmare happening in real time. The mother didn’t see an authoritative cop or stop to notice his skin color. None of that mattered. The single focus was to save a boy’s life.
This is the America that so many pessimists claim does not exist, and incidents like this can remind us all that we have more in common than we realize.
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