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Security camera captures a cop in Australia saving a choking baby

Posted at 10:44 AM, Dec 27, 2019
and last updated 2019-12-27 12:44:01-05

The couple was frantic.

They rushed into a police station in Perth, Australia, around 11:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve, desperately asking for help at the front desk.

Their 8-month-old baby was choking on food and wasn't breathing.

CCTV footage shows what happened next: Acting Sgt. Jason Lee runs into the foyer and grabs the baby from the man. Lee pats the baby on the back multiple times until the food is dislodged. Then he hands the baby back.

Lee then demonstrates to the couple the proper method to save choking infants. He shows them how to hold the baby in one hand, facing down, and give five sturdy pats on the infant's back.

That's the same process the American Red Cross recommends.

Then the video shows the relieved couple walking back out the same door through which they entered. The whole ordeal took just two minutes.

The sergeant "used first aid to dislodge an item from the mouth/throat of the young child," the Western Australia Police Force in a post on their Facebook page.

"Our officers receive first aid training and with several years of experience, it looks like that training experience just kicked in and he's gone straight into action," Acting Inspector Shane Crook told CNN affiliate Nine News.

Lee was just following his training, but Crook said it inspired the team working at Northbridge Police Station in the city of Perth on the Western Australia coast.

"It just sort of lifts the place, a situation like that," Crook said. "It is positive, it's a good result, I think everyone would have been all smiles. ... Police officers like good stories."