LAPD Officer Saves Girl at Dodger Stadium

From ABC 7.com: A local police officer is receiving lots of praise for stepping up to the plate during an emergency at Dodger Stadium.

LAPD Officer Carlos Flores was working off-duty uniformed detail at a game last month when he responded to a call of a 4-year-old girl choking.

Flores, received special recognition from the Dodgers Sunday for rendering aid and successfully saving the life of the young girl.

"The ability to do the techniques to save a child, I mean it could be my child or someone else's child, that's like a blessing, that God gives," Flores said. "It's great, it's a wonderful, wonderful feeling."

I got a chance to speak with Officer Flores, a team member of the LAPD's elite Metropolitan Division (a crime suppression unit that also deals in crowd control activities and high risk search warrants service). Officer Flores, wearing his LAPD uniform as he was working for the Dodgers that day, heard commotion about one hundred feet away and ran over to help. He saw a young child on the ground being surrounded by on-lookers. He told me that some by-standers conducted several "finger sweeps" in the girl's mouth to get the hot dog out of her throat area. This only lodged the hot dog further into her throat.

Officer Flores, besides being a police officer, is a certified Emergency Medical Technician, or EMT. As a side note, not all police officers are EMTs. All officers have basic medical training, but EMTs have extensive life saving training. Officer Flores quickly assessed the girl, cleared the area, and began to work on her. Dodger Stadium medical personnel were also called to the scene but it took them several minutes to get there.

Officer Flores had to use both back thrusts, and the Heimlich Maneuver to clear her airway. He stated that the hot dog was lodged pretty far down her throat. The hot dog finally came out as the Dodger medical staff arrived. According to the medical staff, had it not been for Officer Flores, the girl's life might have been taken.

The next game, the Dodgers presented Officer Flores with an autographed jersey, and lifetime tickets for he and his family. The kicker to this story, the girl's parents had a front row seat from their daughter almost dying, to her being saved by a talented officer.

Hot dogs, no matter where you are, are easily choking hazards. Make sure that you cut them up into small pieces and monitor your children while they eat them. Also, the "finger sweep," as it happened in this case, can sometimes accomplish more harm than good. Go to a basic first aid class to learn more about the techniques that can save a persons life, maybe even your own child's... Learn more about choking at http://www.essortment.com/all/firstaidchokin_rkxt.htm