On the afternoon of June 5, 2021, Santa Fe County Deputy Sheriff Patrick Ficke was on patrol along Interstate 25 when he noticed a vehicle driving erratically.

Here’s how it went down, in Deputy Sheriff Ficke’s own words:

So I decided to do a traffic stop. Right as I stopped the vehicle, the driver, who was a father jumped out – which is usually a red flag for law enforcement when people jump out of the cars – so I jumped out and he said his baby was not breathing.

So he started pulling his baby out. I could see the baby was stiff and purple. So I immediately called for an ambulance and paramedics and ran up to the baby.

I checked her airway and I could see she was choking on something. I turned her around I started performing the Heimlich maneuver for… essentially an infant. She was a one-year-old little girl who’s purple and stiff. After about 45 seconds to a minute of giving her the Heimlich, the Cheeto, which she was choking on came out.

And she started crying where I turned it back up, just trying to comfort her.

Yeah. It was pretty scary for a bit. Um, you know, one thing with calls, you never want to see a child hurt. So I was just lucky I was there at the right time and able to help her.

 

Watch the video of Deputy Sheriff Patrick Ficke’s live-saving heroics on the Santa Fe County Sheriffs Department Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/289345225483/videos/778211519521213