MARIETTA, Ga. — A Marietta officer is being called a hero after he helped saved a two-month-old baby's life last week.
Officer Nick St. Onge went to an apartment on Franklin Gateway just after 7 p.m. on May 15th. When he arrived, Kianna Dorsey was standing in the parking lot holding her granddaughter, 7-month-old Zeona, who was not breathing. The baby was turning blue.
She told the officer that the infant had just finished a bottle.
"I called her name and she just was not really looking at me," Dorsey recounted. "She was just, like, glossy and her body was lim. She was just, like, lethargic."
Dorsey immediately handed the baby over to the St. Onge and he jumped into action. Dramatic video from the officer's body camera and dash camera showed the who event unfold.
"Is she breathing," the officer can be heard asking Dorsey.
"Barely, she won't cry," she answers.
The officer then begins to pat the 7-month-old on the back and performing gentle compressions on her chest for more than two minutes, all the while calling for backup.
"Hey baby, come one baby," the officer pleads, while continuing to pat on the baby's back.
After a few more tense seconds pass, St. Onge heard the sound he was desperate to hear – signs of life from Zeona.
A few more seconds later, the paramedics arrive on scene to hear more healthy cries from Zeona. They took the 7-month-old and the hospital, where family told 11Alive she is doing great and has been released.
11Alive's Natisha Lance spoke to the five-year veteran with the Marietta Police Department to find out what was going through his mind when during the incident. St. Onge said he was focused on his training.
"You just go through what you've been taught," he explained. "You just say, 'OK, this is the next call. I've been trained on how to handle this. Let me go do my job.'"
St. Onge said he took a CPR training class in February that made him prepared for this exact kind of emergency.
"And while I am going there, I am thinking in the back of my head about those classes I took," he said. "I started thinking, 'What am I going to do when I get there?'"
St. Onge, who has five kids of his own and was in the Marine Corps for nine years, quickly began performing the chest compressions, and about two minutes in, he heard stirrings from Zeona.
"It was kind of a reassurance to me that I was doing the right thing, let me just keep doing what I’m doing and everything will be just fine," he stated.
St. Onge continued performing CPR, all the while trying to keep the Drosey, who had some CPR training of her own, calm.
"I’m grateful that grandmother was able to trust me enough to do this," he said. "I can’t imagine what she was feeling but I’m glad I was able to help her."
Dorsey told 11Alive St. Onge did everything great, and was overjoyed when she heard Zeona cry.
"I almost fell to the ground," she said. "I was happy to hear something."
As for St. Onge, he told 11Alive he "just happened to be at the right place at the right time." And while he hopes he never has to respond to another call like it, he said he will know exactly what to do.
PHOTOS | Marietta Police officer saves infant
