Rookie Deputy Uses New Training to Save Toddler
Sept. 14--A rookie deputy who recently completed a CPR class used that training to save the life of a 2-year-old boy, the Tulare County Sheriff's Department said Monday.
About 3:20 a.m. Friday, deputies Bryan De Haan and Marc Terrenos answered a call from Pixley that a 2-year-old boy was not breathing.
The boy's parents flagged them down from their car as the deputies arrived at the corner of Park Road and Court Avenue.
De Haan got out the patrol car and saw the boy was limp in his mother's arms. She handed him the child, and he checked for a pulse but found none.
He placed the boy on his right arm with his head facing down and began giving him back blows. On the fifth one, the boy let out a small cough. He turned the boy over and found a faint pulse.
As Terrenos checked the boy's airway and monitored his pulse, the toddler regained consciousness and started to cry.
Then his parents cried.
"This is the reason I do what I do," De Haan said. "I went into law enforcement to make a difference in the community."
De Haan started with the department in January and took a CPR class only two days before the incident, the sheriff's department said.
The boy was taken by ambulance to Delano Regional Medical Center, then to Valley Children's Hospital, where he was released late Friday afternoon in good condition.
Lewis Griswold: 559-441-6104, @fb_LewGriswold
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