Local Hero: Cop Performs CPR on 2-Year-Old While Driving to Hospital

A 2-year-old boy is alive today because of the quick thinking of a local police officer who performed CPR while en route to the hospital.  The Poughkeepsie Journal reports that Red Hook police officer, Sgt. Patrick Hildenbrand, thought he was pulling over a speeding driver at a routine traffic stop when he realized the driver was trying to get his son to the hospital because he had stopped breathing.

The young boy's father, Matthew Morgan of Clermont, was racing to Northern Dutchess Hospital when he was pulled over by officer Hildenbrand.  After determining that the child was unresponsive Hildenbrand put the father and son in the back of the police SUV and started driving.  While navigating the streets, the officer was coaching the father on how to perform CPR.  After no success, the Sgt. reached into the back seat and began chest compressions himself, while continuing to drive to the hospital.

Hildenbrand told the Poughkeepsie Journal:

I have long arms... I had my arm reaching backwards and I started doing two-finger compressions.

Thankfully, once the child arrived at Northern Dutchess, doctors were able to resuscitate him.  According to his mother, the boy suffered a seizure which caused him to stop breathing.