A choking child in the South Bronx was breathing again within seconds after officers from the NYPD's 44th Precinct were flagged down and rushed to help over the weekend. The child was safely taken to a hospital for evaluation once the airway was cleared, according to police.
The department shared the rescue in a post from NYPD News
, which said officers were flagged to assist a choking child on Saturday and immediately began life-saving measures to clear the child's airway. Within seconds, the post said, the child was breathing again and was brought to a hospital for evaluation. NYPD News, the department's official account, generally directs the public to call 911 for emergencies and 311 for non-emergencies, noting that the account itself is not monitored around the clock.
The 44th Precinct is headquartered at 2 East 169th Street and patrols a 1.97-square-mile stretch of the South Bronx that includes Highbridge, Concourse, Bronx Terminal Market and the area around Yankee Stadium, according to the NYPD. It's a densely populated stretch of the borough where, per the New York Civil Liberties Union, roughly 94% of residents identify as Black or Latino.
Why Seconds Matter in a Choking Emergency
Choking remains a leading cause of unintentional injury death among infants and young children, with about 75% of fatal pediatric choking incidents occurring in kids under age 3, according to the Magnolia Regional Health Center. Toddlers and infants face heightened risk because of their small airway diameters and their tendency to put small objects in their mouths.
A complete airway blockage in a young child can cause irreversible brain damage or death in as little as four minutes if oxygen delivery to the brain isn't restored, according to research cited by C.S. Mott Children's Hospital. That narrow window is why field response before an ambulance even arrives can be so critical. Standard first-aid guidance for a choking infant calls for holding the child face-down along the forearm and delivering up to five firm back slaps between the shoulder blades to dislodge the obstruction, per the National Safety Council, a technique adapted from adult abdominal thrusts to avoid internal soft-tissue injury in smaller bodies.
A Pattern of Quick Action in the Bronx
Saturday's rescue isn't the first time 44th Precinct officers have intervened in a street-level choking emergency. In 2020, officers from the precinct saved a choking 2-year-old girl after being flagged down at a red light by a mother whose child had swallowed a hair clip, delivering back blows to clear the item before handing the child off to EMS, according to the Rockland Report.
Earlier this year, rookie NYPD officer Freddy Cerpa drew widespread attention for saving two separate choking infants in the Bronx within just a few weeks, performing back slaps and airway checks in both cases before paramedics arrived, as reported by CBS Evening News. Under New York's Briana's Law, enacted in 2017 following the death of an 11-year-old Brooklyn girl after an officer on scene didn't know CPR, all NYPD officers and recruits are now legally required to hold CPR certification and recertify every two years, according to Police1.
That mandate builds on training that begins at the police academy, where NYPD recruits complete 913 hours of basic training — well beyond the state's 700-hour minimum — including coursework in first aid, CPR and initial medical emergency response, according to the Kevin Sheerin Law Office. Recruits must pass four separate exams with a minimum score of 75% to graduate. Residents with questions about neighborhood safety can also raise them directly with precinct command staff at the 44th Precinct Community Council's monthly meetings, held the second Wednesday of each month at 1072 Grand Concourse, according to the Bronx News Network.
