By Adam Foxman
The Ventura County Star
A Santa Paula police officer, other emergency responders and a distraught mother helped save a 4-year-old boy who almost strangled himself this week in his home, authorities said.
A preliminary investigation determined the boy was playing Tuesday afternoon in a bedroom of his home in the 700 block of West Santa Barbara Street in Santa Paula. He apparently was trying to reach for toys on a shelf when a cord accidentally got stuck around his neck, Santa Paula police Detective Wallace Boggess said.
The cord had been attached to a plastic flute. It somehow got caught on a sturdy clothes hangar, then got stuck around the boy’s neck, Boggess said.
The boy was standing on a box at the time, and he was able to hold himself up by standing on his toes so he didn’t completely strangle, said the detective.
The boy’s mother found and rescued him from the cord before he lost consciousness, and “probably saved his life,” Boggess said.
When the mother called 911 about 2:10 p.m., she was so distraught that dispatchers couldn’t understand her, Senior Officer Cody Madison said in an interview Wednesday. When Madison arrived, he said the boy had a rapid pulse but was unresponsive. “His face was blue along with his arms,” the officer said.
Madison immediately began resuscitation and kept it up until American Medical Response paramedics and Santa Paula firefighters arrived about three minutes later. They loaded the child into an ambulance and transported him to Ventura County Medical Center in Ventura.
“He did start breathing in the ambulance, but it wasn’t enough to sustain life at that time,” said Santa Paula Fire Chief Rick Araiza.
Firefighters Alex Horton and Casey Belmonte rode along to help a paramedic continue CPR. Like most Santa Paula firefighters, Horton and Belmonte are reserve personnel who work 24-hour shifts at least three days a month and receive stipends.
After arriving at VCMC, the boy was transferred to Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. On Wednesday, he was in stable condition and able to respond non-verbally to family members and medical personnel, Boggess said.
The emergency personnel were waiting anxiously Wednesday to learn if the boy had suffered any permanent damage.
“When you dedicate your life to trying to save people, the kids are the ones who affect you the most,” Araiza said. “In this case, hopefully it will be a success story and he will be completely back to normal.”
Araiza said the efforts of Madison and the others were critical to the boy’s survival.
“The ability to survive definitely lessens with each minute that oxygen is withheld from the brain,” he said.
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