Police officer speaks out after rescuing choking toddler in incident caught on camera
A family is hailing a Philadelphia police officer as their hero after he jumped into action to save their choking toddler at a local park.
The toddler, whose name is Emma, was at a playground inside FDR Park back in March when she began choking on a chip, the family said.
Philadelphia Police Sgt. Thomas Cain was among the officers who responded to the incident, according to the department.
"I started running up, weaving through people as they're just standing around. I was trying to figure out ... who was mom," Cain told Philadelphia ABC station WPVI.
The incident was captured in police body camera footage recently released by the Philadelphia Police Department.
In the video clip, Cain can be seen slapping Emma on the back repeatedly, attempting to dislodge the chip.
"I just started doing back slaps, flipped her over, tried to get whatever else was out of her mouth," he recounted, stating that at a certain point, Emma stopped breathing and he began trying to administer CPR.
A few moments later, Emma took a shallow breath, Cain said, and fire department medics arrived shortly after to administer additional care and transport her to a local hospital.
"I was just making sure that she kept breathing, so I was able to hand her off right to [the ambulance crew]," he said.
Emma's family only speak Spanish and declined to be interviewed on camera by WPVI, but they credited Cain for saving Emma's life and said she is now doing fine.
Cain said it was all in a day's work for him.
"I mean, we do it every day, so it's not just me, but I credit my officers and stuff for being there," he said.
