‘What we’re here to do’: Huron Officer saves baby’s life

HURON, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – A baby is home safe with family after a Huron Police Officer saved its life. Last weekend, the officer was responding to a 911 call from a babysitter and was the first to arrive on the scene, even beating the paramedics. 

Officer Brayden Grove says in Huron, the police can arrive on a scene within minutes, whereas it can take EMS 20 minutes or more. And in such critical situations, every minute can mean the difference between life and death.

“The ambulance center that we use is the Coalinga Fire and EMS. So their main station is out of Coalinga. So, every time we dispatch them, typically for the most part, they’re coming from Coalinga,” Officer Grove said.

Last Saturday morning, Grove responded to a home off Lassen and Palmer Avenues, which is less than a mile from the police station. The babysitter called 911, reporting that a one-year-old baby girl was having difficulty breathing.

“I went running up the stairs, running inside, and contacted the babysitter that had the baby in her arms. Baby was completely lifeless,” Grove said. 

He says the baby had no pulse, so he quickly started performing CPR. “It was a short period of time, probably 30 seconds to a minute. But, you know, long enough, it seemed like a long time.” The baby finally took a gasp of air and started crying. Coalinga EMS arrived on the scene shortly after and took the baby to Valley Children’s. To this day, Grove says the parents aren’t sure what went wrong. “Just one of those weird medical emergencies,” he said.

The family asked for their identity to be concealed, but were very grateful for Grove’s swift actions.

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s fun, you know, chasing bad guys and doing stuff like that. But at the end of the day, when you save somebody’s life and then you see them after the fact, that’s what we’re here to do,” he said.

Grove said the family was a bit hesitant when he wanted to check up on the baby, and believes their legal status is unclear. But that would never get in the way of serving the community of Huron. 

“Here at the Huron Police Department, and I think a lot of other agencies, look at it within the county and the state, is we don’t necessarily care about the legal status of it. We just care about helping people. That’s what our job is,” he said.

As of Thursday, the city cut the ribbon on its new ambulance substation, which is contracted by Coalinga EMS. The building sits between the Huron Police and Fire Station. Officer Grove says the 24-hour service will provide a faster response time for residents in Huron.