A quick-thinking rookie police officer in Arkansas saved the life of a newborn baby recently, with his heroic rescue caught on camera.
Cody Hubbard, 23, is the rookie officer who stepped into action to save the day when called upon last weekend in Pottsville.
The Pottsville Police Department received a call about a three-week old baby who needed help because he was choking on anti-gas drops last Saturday.
The infant was clearly struggling to get air, causing his parents and grandparents to panic.
‘We were trying to give Grady his medicine … and he was taking them just fine,’ father Joe Chronister told Fox & Friends on Saturday. ‘Right towards the end, he started choking.’
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Officer Cody Hubbard, 23, stepped in to save the day in Pottsville, Arkansas after a baby’s distressed family called police when the newborn began choking on medicine
The baby began to ‘turn purple,’ leading Joe and his wife to call 911.
Hubbard was the responding officer to the call and says he prayed on his way to the baby.
‘A normal day went to a chaotic day in a matter of seconds,’ Hubbard, a parent himself, told FOX 16 after the fact. ‘When a family is depending on you like that, you know the pressure hits.’
Hubbard later said that he dealt with a similar problem himself involving his daughter, giving him the experience to deal with the situation.
Chronister tried in vain to help his son, but was struggling until Hubbard arrived.
The officer appeared to squeeze and clap the baby’s back, trying to dislodge the drops
Hubbard, for his part, chalked up the rescue to prayer, saying, ‘Pretty much for the Lord to be on my side on this one’
‘We were trying everything, and it seemed like he [Hubbard] knew exactly what to do,’ Chronister said.
In bodycam footage from Hubbard’s uniform, he can be seen clapping Grady on the back and trying to squeeze from under his armpits, both which ultimately helped dislodge the drops from where they were caught.
‘Got him breathing and got him crying, which is a good thing’ Chronister said. ‘He saved my baby’s life.’
Hubbard, for his part, chalked up the rescue to prayer, saying, ‘Pretty much for the Lord to be on my side on this one.’
Hubbard also explained his process for dealing with situations involving children.
‘Whenever I rolled up on this call, anytime I deal with something that involves a child, I think about how the parents would want me to treat the child as if it was mine,’ Hubbard said.
‘I started just kind of bawling because, you know, it felt good to see how that turned out,’ Hubbard said. ‘Mentally, I just broke down. I was crying, but it was happy tears’
Afterwards, Hubbard admits to crying about the ordeal in his police car after he turned off his body camera.
‘I started just kind of bawling because, you know, it felt good to see how that turned out,’ Hubbard said. ‘Mentally, I just broke down. I was crying, but it was happy tears.’
‘It was life-changing,’ Hubbard added to Fox & Friends.
Hubbard is set be given an award later this month to honor the fact that he saved a life
On Thursday, the police department posted about the incident on Facebook, writing, ‘As an officer you never know what is ahead of you for the day, it can go from 0 to 100 in the blink of an eye.
‘Last Saturday Officer Hubbard went above and beyond to save a little life, thank you Officer Hubbard for your quick response. This is what we are all about!’
Hubbard is set be given an award later this month to honor the fact that he saved a life.
Grady is said to be doing fine now.