FHP: Trooper helps save baby choking on plastic wrapper
Trooper Billy Ortiz courtesy of the Florida Highway Patrol.
BROOKSVILLE, Fla. - An 8-month-old baby is recovering after nearly choking thanks to the quick thinking of a trooper with the Florida Highway Patrol.
According to FHP, Trooper Billy Ortiz was wrapping up his shift around 6 p.m. on Sunday and just pulled into his driveway when he was flagged down by a speeding driver who was blowing the horn of his pickup truck.
FHP says the driver a 25-year-old man from Brooksville stopped when he saw Ortiz, got out of his truck and began yelling that an 8-month-old was choking.
Trooper Ortiz and a passerby who identified herself as a retired nurse tried to help the baby, but couldn’t clear the obstruction in the infant’s throat.
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Troopers say the pair took the baby in the FHP patrol car to Oak Hill Regional Hospital where medical staff cleared the obstruction which turned out to be a plastic wrapper.
FHP is crediting the trooper with saving the baby’s life.