A Dallas police officer is being credited with saving the life of a 22-month-old toddler who had accidentally swallowed a coin.
Rowlett police officer Patrick Ray had logged off his patrol car’s computer Sunday when a call went out for an unresponsive toddler nearby. He clocked back in and raced to the scene, Fox4News.com reported.
“I didn’t know if it was a drowning. I didn’t know if she was choking on something,” Ray told the news station.
He arrived to find Tammy Norvell clutching her daughter Bexley, whose lips had started turning blue.
“It was the scariest thing to hand her over to somebody I didn’t know, but I put all my faith and all my trust in him that he knew what to do,” Tammy told Fox4News.com.
“Her lips started turning blue, and I called for my husband and he called 911,” she said.
Ray, who has two young sons of his own, began checking for airway blockages until Bexley started breathing again. An X-ray later revealed she had swallowed a coin.
“It’s so emotional, thinking if it weren’t for him I could be picking out a casket today, living every parent’s nightmare and I’m not,” Tammy told Fox4News.com.
Ray later visited Bexley in the hospital, and Tammy thanked him in a Facebook post, which was shared with his wife. The two families have since met.
“I can’t repay him” Tammy told Fox4News.com. “There’s no way. There’s no way.”
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