A quick-acting Chicago police officer revived an unconscious 2-year-old in the Albany Park neighborhood after he spotted the boy's mother calling for help, police said today.
Officer Tom Norberg had just started his shift and was headed east on Montrose Avenue near Kimball Avenue just after 4 p.m. Thursday when a car drove up behind him.
"It was flashing its lights, blowing its horn," he said, "and trying to get my attention in the worst way."
Norberg, a 15-year veteran Chicago officer, slowed his squad car down to allow the other car to pull alongside him. A rear window roll down.
"A woman stuck her head out the window and yelled, 'My baby is not breathing. Help me, Help me,' " he said.
Norberg had the boy's father stop the car, then called an ambulance. He took the boy out of his car seat and laid him on the ground on a blanket. The child's eyes were rolled back.
The mother told Norberg that the boy had been eating, then started coughing and vomiting. They were trying to rush him to a hospital.
The officer recalled his first-aid training from the police academy. Thinking there may be something blocking the boy's airway, he first turned the boy on his side and tapped him on the back several times to knock any obstruction free.
He then turned the boy on his back and did two-finger chest compressions. Soon, to his parents' relief, the boy started coughing and moving on his own, Norberg said. An ambulance took the boy to Swedish Covenant Hospital; he was released late Thursday.
Norberg said he had never had to use first-aid in quite this way before, but he was glad to put his training to use.
"It's part of my job," the father of two said. "I actually like my job."
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