**Warning: Body camera video above may be hard for some to watch.**
STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. (WXYZ) — Shocking new body camera video captured the moment a Sterling Heights police officer and members of the Sterling Heights Fire Department saved an 18-month-old's life after he was found unresponsive.
The incident happened Feb. 19 around 3:30 p.m. at the home goods store Dream Home Collection near 15 Mile Road and Ryan Road in Sterling Heights.
Employees say a family was shopping when the father ran up to the cashier desk yelling and pleading for help, carrying his unresponsive child.
The terrified employees called 911 and asked if anyone in the store was a medical professional. They attempted resuscitating the child before Officer Potts of the Sterling Heights Police Department arrived on scene.
“It was really so sad," employee Mary Shabilla said. "It was a real nightmare that day.”
In the bodycam video, you can see Potts taking the unresponsive child off of the front counter and gently placing him on the ground. He checked for a pulse but did not find one and began administering chest compressions until members of the Sterling Heights Fire Department arrived.
“Come on buddy, come on buddy," Potts is heard saying in the video.
Shabilla has worked at the store for three years and has never seen anything like this. She says it didn’t look like the child was choking and the family was hysterical trying to get help.
Her and the rest of the staff were all elated to see Potts spring into action along with the Sterling Heights Fire Department that day.
The child was taken to Beaumont Corewell Hospital in Troy, where medical professionals said the quick and heroic actions of first responders on scene saved the child’s life.
Shabilla says the incident is all the staff has been talking about since February, not knowing if the child survived. Now, they can finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"We wanted to contact anyone to know, but we didn’t know who to ask. But that’s good. That’s good," Shabilla said.
Due to their heroic actions Potts and the Sterling Heights Fire Department personnel will be recognized with an award during a presentation Friday at 7:30 a.m. at 19176 Hall Road, Suite 120 in Clinton Township. Macomb County EMS Medical Control Authority and Corewell Health will be presenting the awards.
If you would like to learn CPR, you can sign up for a class through the American Red Cross.
