Mother Expresses Gratitude, Respect For Philly Police Officers Who Saved Her Baby's Life
by Mike DeNardo and Greg Argos
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A 1-year-old boy is alive, thanks to the quick actions of three Philadelphia police officers in North Philadelphia.
When 39th District Officer Jeremy Elliott saw 1-year-old Jayson Smith in his father's arms, he knew he had to act. "I could immediately see that the child was in bad shape. His body had gone completely limp," Elliot explained.
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On Monday, at Jasmin Smith's home in North Philadelphia, her 1-year-old son suddenly stopped breathing. "His eyes started to roll in the back of his head," said Jasmin. "He became unresponsive."
Elliott started rescue breathing, while Officer Dan Williams monitored the boy's pulse until paramedics arrived. Elliot continued CPR for more than 10 minutes.
"I was very hysterical," Jasmin said. "My husband was trying to console me."
Jayson was rushed to St. Christopher's Hospital for Children and regained consciousness. "Every officer I saw, I just grabbed them and hugged them and cried and I said thank you so much," Jasmin said.
The rescure not only connecting Jasmin with the three cops, but the officers were connected to the family as well.
"Yesterday, when I got off work, I was out doing some running around and it kind of stuck with me, so I decided I was going to go see him today when I went to work," Elliot said. "I just wanted to take something nice for him, so I stopped and got him a teddy bear and my sergeant, got him a little toy police car."
Now, there is an unlikely friendship and newfound respect for four people, who without this near tragedy, may never have crossed paths. "There are great officers in the world and yesterday, we definitely encountered them," Jasmin said. "You kind of build up an animosity that shouldn't really be there and then something like this happens to you and they go above and beyond for you, you're like 'oh no.' You can't go with what you always hear you have to see things for yourself."
Officer Gerald Wolford also responded to the call at 30th and Wishart.
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"It's great. I'm ecstatic that he's alive. If we were ten minutes later, five minutes, he might not be breathing anymore," he said.
Williams deflected any credit. "I don't want to call myself a hero, but I just -- that's our job. To help out any way we can," he said.
