DAYTON — A Dayton officer is being recognized for stepping up when a child’s life was on the line.
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Dispatch alerted west side crews in Dayton to an infant who had possibly drowned, Officer Elizabeth Mote recounted in a video posted by Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson.
Wilson honored Mote as part of the state’s Heart of Kindness initiative.
Mote said when officers got inside, they found a 1-year-old who was unresponsive and not breathing.
One of the neighbors had heard the mother screaming and yelling for help.
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The neighbor began doing chest compressions on the child.
Mote began doing back blows until the child began to respond and cough.
“A complete sigh of relief, and you could hear a pin drop in that room once we got that first cough,” Mote said.
Mote and her partner followed the ambulance to the hospital.
She stayed with the child in the hospital.
Mote said the child reached for her hand and fell asleep.
“May or may not have cried a little bit when it was just her and I” she said.
The child made a full recovery.
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