State Trooper Credited With Saving Unconscious Boy, 6, On Southern State Parkway

NORTH BELLMORE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A New York State Police trooper was being hailed as a hero Tuesday, after clearing the airway of a 6-year-old boy who was not breathing on the Southern State Parkway on Long Island – and who has since been released from the hospital.

Around 6:35 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 3, state police in Farmingdale received an emergency call from a woman screaming hysterically, according to a news release. Police figured out that she was at the Newbridge Road exit on the Southern State Parkway, but could not get any other information, state the release said.

Troopers found the woman parked on the right shoulder of the expressway near Exit 25, in a Buick Century, state police said.

Trooper Christopher Nolan of the Farmingdale Barracks approached the 31-year-old woman as she clutched her son, state police said. The woman told Nolan the boy could not speak or breathe.

Nolan quickly realized the boy had a blocked airway, and tilted the boy's head to open the airway, state police said. Once on his back with an open airway, the boy began to breathe, state police said.

The boy began throwing up, requiring Nolan to work to keep the airway open, state police said. He succeeded in doing so until an ambulance came and took the boy and his mother to Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, state police said.

The woman said her son had been fighting a serious case of the flu and had had a fever of 107, and he had had a seizure and stopped breathing just before his mother called 911, state police said.

The boy was released from the hospital after several days and was expected to make a full recovery, state police said.

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