By Mitch Hotts
The Macomb Daily, Mount Clemens, Mich.
STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. — A Sterling Heights police officer is being celebrated for his life-saving actions on a baby boy who had stopped breathing after choking in a Walmart store.
Officer Edwar Talia responded to the Walmart on Van Dyke Avenue Nov. 1 at around 8:30 p.m. for a report of a 5-month-old infant who was having trouble breathing.
Newly-released bodycam video showed Talia rushing into the Walmart to find the distraught mother with her child, who appeared not to be breathing. He began giving continuous back blows to the infant, which cleared the airway and allowed the child to breathe on his own again.
“I rushed in there — the doors could not open fast enough,” Talia told WXYZ-TV ( Channel 7 )
The department praised Talia’s calm actions.
“The Sterling Heights Police Department prides itself on being ready for any chaotic or unexpected incident,” the department said in a news release. “Officer Talia’s quick and heroic actions undoubtedly saved this baby’s life.”
The boy’s single mother, Bayley Simon, can be seen on the bodycam footage response as people tried to assist the infant as the officer arrived. She was breastfeeding little Jameson when he choked and went limp.
“He was like a wet noodle, there was nothing there, no movement nothing,” Simon said told the TV station.
The officer, who had been re-certified in CPR training just one week prior to the incident, immediately began applying life-saving measures. He performed several back blows on the infant, being careful not to use too much force.
“I kneeled down, I started doing just a few back blows while I’m talking to him. I can feel him breathing, but it’s very agonal,” Talia told CBS News.
Officer Talia is a seven-year veteran of the department. He is a Sterling Heights resident who was born in Iraq and previously worked for the Waterford Township Police Department, according to past Macomb Daily reporting.
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