Video shows moment officer saves toddler choking outside Texas gas station
A viral video shows a Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center officer's training immediately kick in during a July 12 incident at a north-central Texas gas station, which was captured on his department-issued body camera.
The dramatic encounter took place on duty while at a Quick Trip gas station to fill up his patrol car's tank, Cpl. Lee Higginbotham told USA TODAY on Tuesday, July 22.
"Two people come running to my squad car," Higginbotham said in an on-air interview with KDFW-TV.
"At first, I did not know who was choking," the 44-year-old Army veteran told USA TODAY. "When I realized it was a child, I noticed he was turning a blueish shade."
What followed was less than a minute as the 2-year-old's family and bystanders watched what Higginbotham said the boy would later spit out − "a nickel-sized hotdog."
"He was with his grandparents at the time of the incident," the officer said. "They were relieved and happy."
Video shows Higginbotham rush to the child, beginning back blows and radioing for help.
"I immediately grabbed the child and put him in a downward position and gave him several back blows to attempt to dislodge the item," Higginbotham said.
When the back slaps did not work, the officer turned the child around and performed the Heimlich maneuver, which dislodged a piece of a hot dog.
In the footage, a crowd of his family and others surrounding the child quickly cheered.
"It was nerve-racking," the corporal told the local TV station. "I would hope that someone would do that with my child if my child was out there in danger and I wasn't there."
Watch the video at the top of this story.
Hot dogs have proven to be a serious choking hazard for young children because of their size, shape and texture, Dr. Tanya Altmann, author of 'Baby & Toddler Basics," previously told USA TODAY.
While beloved by kids, hot dogs rank at the top of lists of foods to avoid giving young children. According to The American Academy of Pediatrics, children younger than age 4 should not consume the cylindrical-shaped foods unless they are chopped into tiny pieces.
Because of their shape, hot dogs should be cut lengthwise into strips first and then cut again into smaller pieces.
Contributing: Amy Haneline
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
2 days ago
- USA Today
Insomnia is a global epidemic. How do we fix it?
On a special episode (first released on July 24th) of The Excerpt podcast: The question is: Why do we struggle to sleep? Jennifer Senior, a staff writer at The Atlantic, joins The Excerpt to talk about insomnia and what we can do about solving our sleep issues. Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text. Podcasts: True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here Taylor Wilson: Hello, I'm Taylor Wilson, and this is a special episode of the Excerpt. According to a report released by the American Medical Association earlier this year, one-third of American adults experience acute insomnia, an inability to fall or stay asleep for several days at a time, but one in 10 adults suffer from chronic insomnia. That's an inability to fall or stay asleep three nights a week for three months or more. The condition has potentially debilitating health impacts, including an increased risk of depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and even car accidents. So the question is, why can't we sleep? Here to help me dig into the issue is Jennifer Senior, a staff writer at The Atlantic who recently went on her own journey to solve her insomnia and who shared her story in the magazine. Thank you for joining me, Jennifer. Jennifer Senior: Thanks for having me. Taylor Wilson: So let's start with I guess a 30,000-foot view of the issue. I know you spoke with a lot of sleep specialists, did a lot of independent research for your piece. Jennifer, what's the big picture here on American's trouble with sleep? Jennifer Senior: Right. Yeah. What's funny, I think the story was a little misnamed. I mean, this is really more story about, well, if you can't sleep, don't feel awful about it because there are so many shaming stories about people, whatever solutions people seek out. I do talk in the beginning about the way that the modern world absolutely conspires against sleep, that it just lays waste to your circadian rhythms. That people work two jobs, 16.4% of us work non-standard hours. If you're a white collar kind of professional, you've got these woodpecker like peck, peck, peck, incursions into your life all night and weekend long from your boss's work sort of never ends. I mean, we're just no longer yoked to the rhythms of the earth anymore. We're just part of this whirl of a wired world. Taylor Wilson: In the course of doing your research, was there something in particular that surprised you most about the problem? Jennifer Senior: I'll tell you what surprised me most, just generally. Whenever I interviewed any expert about this, and it didn't matter what species of expert, they could be an epidemiologist, they could be a neurologist, they could be a psychiatrist, they could be a clinician. Most of them said the same thing. There is a slight misconception that you need eight hours of sleep. There is some data saying this. There is another equally robust data set saying 6.5 to 7.4 is associated with the best health outcomes. Now it's very hard to tell. These studies are observational. They're not randomized. There was all sorts of confounds and problems with this, but this one study in particular had a million people in it. It's been replicated. There are plenty of people who believe this data and people vary. And over the course of a lifetime, your individual sleep capacity could change. In a funny way, that was what surprised me most. Right? This mantra, which is kind of a tyranny, get eight hours or else. Taylor Wilson: Well, you talked Jennifer about the modern world conspiring against us and our sleep, and I guess let's try to outline a few of the possible causes of what you call a public health emergency, right? What can you share with us here on this? Jennifer Senior: About other causes, you mean besides the kind of modernity itself and kids working on... Kids being assigned homework online, kids socializing online. I mean, adolescents are desperate for sleep. They're so hungry for it, and modern high schools and middle schools have them waking up preposterously early when their circadian rhythms are pitched forward. We've got a substantial sandwich generation that's taking care of young kids and their elderly parents. That's going to conspire against it. These are all immutable things. Also, there are elevated levels of anxiety now in our world, and anxiety itself is a huge source of... Or can be a source of sleeplessness, certainly can make one prone. So I mean, those are additional examples I suppose. Taylor Wilson: Let's talk through your story a bit here. When did you first realize that you had an issue with sleep? And walk us through your experience with insomnia. Jennifer Senior: It was 25 years ago and it was a very mysterious onset. I cannot tell you what brought it on to this day. It is a mystery. I had this extremely well-regulated kind of circadian clock. I fell asleep every night at 1:00. I woke up every day at 9:00. I lost my alarm clock. I still woke up at those times. I didn't have to buy a new alarm clock until I had an early flight one day, and yet sometime very close to my 29th birthday when virtually no circumstances in my life had changed one iota, I had a bad night, fell asleep at like 5:00. Thought nothing of it until they became more regular, and then I started doing all-nighters involuntarily, and I felt like I'd been poisoned. And to this day, I don't know what happened, but once that happens, the whole cycle starts to happen, then people suddenly become very afraid of not falling asleep and whatever kicked it off whether it's mysterious or known becomes irrelevant because then what you do is you start getting very agitated and going, oh my God, I'm not sleeping. Oh my God, I'm still not sleeping. Now it's 3:00 in the morning. Now it's 4:00 in the morning. Now it's 5:00 in the morning. Oh my God, I have one more hour, et cetera. Taylor Wilson: Well, you did write in the piece about the many different recommendations that she tried to solve your own sleep issues. What were some of them, Jennifer, and did any of them help? Jennifer Senior: Oh God, I tried all the things. This is before I sought real professional help, but I did all the things. I would took Tylenol PM, which did not work. I did acupuncture, which were lovely, but did not work. I listened to a meditation tape that a friend gave me, did not work. I listened to another one that was for sleep only that did not work. I ran. I always was a runner, but I ran extra, did not work. Gosh, changed my diet. I don't remember. I did all sorts of things. I tried different supplements, Valerian root, all these things. Melatonin, nothing, nothing. Taylor Wilson: You wrote in depth about one therapy that was recommended to you, and that was CBTI. That's cognitive based therapy for insomnia. Jennifer, first, what is this? And second, did you find any success by using this? Jennifer Senior: So cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, as you said, is the gold standard for treating insomnia. It's portable. You can take it with you. It's not like if you leave your sleep meds at home. The main tent pole of it, which is sleep restriction, which I'll get to in a minute, is very hard to do. I found it murder, the kind of easier parts, although they're still in a funny way, kind of paradoxical, are you have to change your thinking around this is the cognitive piece around sleeping and insomnia. You have to decide, okay, I'm not sleeping. So what? Now, this is kind of funny because there's this din surrounding us that says, oh my God, you're not sleeping. You're going to die of a heart attack. You're going to die of an immune disease. You're going to get cancer. All these things, right? You have to set that all aside and decide one more night's sleep that I can't sleep. So what? Right. That's one thing. You have to change your behaviors, deciding that you are going to consistently go to bed at the same time, wake up at the same time, all that, and not use your bed for anything other than just for sleeping and sex. The hard part and the most powerful part that I found it brutal was the part that said you have to restrict your sleep. If you had only five hours of sleep, but you're in bed for nine hours, you have to choose a wake-up time. Let's say it's 7:00 and then you have to go to bed five hours earlier, 2:00 to s7:00. That's all you can give yourself, and you cannot stop with that schedule until you've slept for the majority of those hours. That's very hard for a sleepless person. And then once you've succeeded, all you get to add on is 15 more minutes of sleep, and then you have to sleep the majority of those hours for three nights running. This is always for three nights running, and the idea is to build up a enough sleep pressure to regularize yourself. You basically capitulate to exhaustion and you start to develop a rhythm. I couldn't stick with it. I was so kind of stupid and depressed with sleeplessness by the time I started it that it probably was impractical and I refused to take drugs to help me fall asleep at the exact right hour, which many clinics recommend. If you're going to go to bed and sleep from 2:00 to 7:00, take something at 1:30 so that you fall asleep at two. But I was afraid of being dependent on drugs, and you can really wean yourself if you do it for a limited amount of time. You can wean yourself anytime really, if you're shrewd about it and if you taper. But I think that I would tell people to try it and to try it sooner rather than later, and to be unafraid of doing it in combination with drugs so that the schedule worked. Taylor Wilson: Well, I am happy you brought up drugs. I did want to bring that up just in terms of what experts are saying about their impact. Even just drugs and alcohol kind of writ large, but sleeping pills specifically. What did you find in researching this in terms of drugs and alcohol? Jennifer Senior: Well, there's a real stigma taking sleep medication, and I'm frankly a little sick of it. I'm not sure why this is so very stigmatized. Like, oh, they're drug addict. They're hooked on sleeping pills. It's framed as addiction, and no one says that someone is addicted to their Ozempic, even though a lifestyle change could perhaps obviate the need. No one says that they are addicted... Oh, that person is totally addicted to their blood pressure medication, even though maybe a change in lifestyle would help change that. Or that they're addicted to their statins, So I sort of bristle. And those who prescribe these medicines say like, look, if the benefit outweighs the risk and they're used properly, sometimes the real side effect is just being dependent on these drugs, and there's a difference between dependence and addiction. A surprisingly small number of people who take these drugs regularly, like benzodiazepines, like Ativan and Ambien and Klonopin, all these things, a surprisingly small number, like 7% increase their doses if they take it every night. So that's very small. However, there are cognitive decrements over time... Or not decrements. It can interfere with your memory and it can increase your odds of falling as you get older. And those are, to me, the real persuasive reasons to get off. Taylor Wilson: I want to back up a minute here to talk about something many may not be aware of, and that's that historically, at least in some eras, people used to sleep in two blocks. What do you know about this? How did this function and really why did this kind of sleep pattern work for some folks? Jennifer Senior: Well, it was sort of, I think, natural. It seemed that this is, and it has not been proven everywhere, but there's plenty of both historical evidence and also some in a lab by this wonderful guy named Tom Ware that shows that if you sort of just put someone in a room, 14 hours of darkness, what will happen is that their sleep will naturally split into two. They'll sleep for a phase, wake up for a phase, and then sleep for a phase again. And historically, there's all sorts of evidence that people would sleep for a phase, get up and read for a while, do some quiet things, do light tasks, maybe sing, maybe have sex, and then go back to bed. So there seemed to be two phases, and this was much easier to do when midnight was actually midnight. You were going bed when the sun had set, or just after were you were tethered to the rhythms of the earth as opposed to a wired electricity run world. Taylor Wilson: What is something you wish you knew when you first started on this journey? Jennifer Senior: To get on it earlier and to not be as afraid... Cognitive behavioral therapy is, I think, often done in conjunction with taking something like Klonopin or Ativan or Ambien, and I was so petrified of becoming hooked on them that I didn't... I refused to take them and I couldn't get my sleep to contract as a result of it. My body was so completely dysregulated and confused about it was so all over the place that I really needed something to regularize it and stabilize it, and I flipped out, and I think if anybody goes and tries CBT, I and their practitioner says to them, and I'm going to have to be on their recommendation, do this in concert with a drug, because you really need it. Don't sit there and freak out and think that you can't or shouldn't, because it happens a lot and people freak out a lot. Taylor Wilson: All right, Jennifer Senior, thank you so much for coming on the Excerpt. Jennifer Senior: Thank you so much for having me. Taylor Wilson: Thanks to our senior producers, Shannon Rae Green and Kaylee Monahan for their production assistance. Our executive producer is Laura Beatty. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending a note to podcasts@ Thanks for listening. I'm Taylor Wilson. I'll be back tomorrow morning with another episode of USA TODAY's the Excerpt.
New York Post
3 days ago
- New York Post
12-year-old boy dies from brain-eating amoeba after swimming in South Carolina lake
A 12-year-old boy died after he contracted a brain-eating amoeba while swimming in a South Carolina lake. Jaysen Carr came into contact with the deadly amoeba Naegleria fowleri at Lake Murray, a large man-made lake just outside of Columbia, his family announced Thursday. He died on died on July 18. 'Jaysen's family is grieving this unthinkable loss, but they are also grateful at the outpouring of love and support they have received from the community,' the family's attorney, Tyler Bailey, told WIS-TV in a statement. Advertisement 'The family has many questions about how and why Jaysen died and wants to do everything in their power to ensure this doesn't happen to another family.' 3 Jaysen Carr, 12, died after he became infected with a brain-eating amoeba, officials said. GoFundMe 3 Jaysen was infected while swimming in South Carolina's Lake Murray. Chris – Advertisement The South Carolina Department of Public Health emphasized Jaysen's death is not part of a wider public health emergency and stressed that while the single-cell organism is naturally occurring in most warm bodies of water, human infection is very rare, according to WIS-TV. This is the first case of Naegleria fowleri in the Palmetto State since 2016. Nationwide, there have only been 167 cases reported in the past 62 years — but only four of those survived, according to the CDC. The organism is dubbed the 'brain-eating amoeba' because it can infect the brain and destroy tissue, the agency said. Infections typically occur after swimming in a lake, river, or other fresh water during summer months when the water levels are low and temperatures are hot. Advertisement 3 Naegleria fowleri can lead to a primary amebic meningoencephalitis, which kills most people. Dr_Microbe – If water containing the amoeba goes up the nose and to the brain, it can cause an infection called primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) — which typically leads to coma and death within five days, according to the CDC. Jaysen's funeral has been scheduled for Saturday. The Carr family has launched a GoFundMe to cover the unexpected costs of medical and funeral expenses. 'He was an incredible son, a devoted brother, and a true friend to everyone who knew him. His kind heart and bright spirit left a lasting impact on everyone he met,' organizers wrote on the fundraiser page.
USA Today
3 days ago
- USA Today
Family of boy who died from brain-eating amoeba speaks out: 'Unimaginable'
The family of a 12-year-old boy from South Carolina is grieving after he died from a brain-eating amoeba, according to a statement from their lawyer. Jaysen Carr died on July 18 after developing an infection from the brain-eating amoeba Naegleria fowleri, the statement shared by Bailey Law Firm said. The South Carolina Department of Public Health confirmed in a statement to USA TODAY on July 23 that a person died after being exposed to the amoeba earlier in July. Prisma Health Children's Hospital Midlands confirmed on July 22 that the person was treated at the facility but did not publicly identify the person. "The Carr family is incredibly grateful for the outpouring of love from the community and for the dedicated care provided by the doctors and nurses at Prisma Health Children's Hospital in the Midlands," the statement said. Brain-eating amoeba victim was 'bright and beloved' middle schooler The statement from the Carr family's lawyer said Jaysen was a "bright and beloved" middle school student. "His loss is unimaginable, and our hearts are with his family as they grieve their son and search for answers," the statement said. The legal team said it will "stand beside this family not only to seek the truth, but to help ensure no other family endures a loss like this." "We ask that you keep the Carrs in your thoughts and prayers and respect their privacy as they prepare to lay Jaysen to rest," Bailey Law Firm's statement said. Brain-eating amoeba: Person dies from Naegleria fowleri in South Carolina, officials say Family says boy was infected with brain-eating amoeba at SC lake The family's statement also said Jaysen Carr developed the infection after swimming at Lake Murray outside Columbia. The SCDPH said it also believed the exposure occurred at the lake. "We cannot be completely certain as this organism occurs naturally and is present in many warm water lakes, rivers and streams," the agency said. What is Naegleria fowleri? Why is it known as a brain-eating amoeba? Naegleria fowleri is a type of amoeba that can cause a rare but nearly always fatal brain infection. It thrives in warm freshwater lakes, rivers and hot springs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The amoeba is often referred to as brain-eating because it can cause an infection called primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) that destroys brain tissue. Most people who have been in bodies of waters have been exposed to the amoeba, but contact alone is not harmful, Dr. Anna Kathryn Burch, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Prisma Health Children's Hospital Midlands, said during a news conference on July 22. "Where it can cause an issue is if forceful water gets up the nose and is able to cross from the nose into the brain," Burch said, adding that a PAM infection causes the brain to swell. To protect against a possible infection, the CDC recommends holding or wearing a nose clip when jumping into fresh water, keeping the head above water in hot springs and using distilled or boiled tap water when rinsing sinuses. Melina Khan is a national trending reporter for USA TODAY. She can be reached at
