The hero NYPD detective who saved the life of a choking infant on the side of a Bronx highway described to amNewYork the viral moment he jumped into action.
Detective Michael Greaney went viral on social media last week after a driver caught him on camera slapping the back of an eight-month-old girl in an effort to stop the infant from choking.
“A hero,” a person in the video could be heard commenting. When amNewYork asked him about that comment, Greaney responded by humbly stating that he was only doing his job.
“It’s definitely nice to hear, but I don’t consider myself a hero. I think guys who get blown up in Afghanistan fighting for our country, those are the real heroes, those guys. I was just doing what I was supposed to do,” Greaney said. “I’m very happy that we were able to have a positive outcome.”
According to Greaney, who is currently assigned to NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny’s office, the incident unfolded at around 8:45 a.m. on Dec. 10 when he spotted a black BMW speeding and driving erratically southbound down the emergency lane of the Bronx River Parkway. He followed the car in an attempt to pull it over.
“I turned on my lights to follow and see what was going on. It just didn’t look right,” he recalled.
When the detective pulled up alongside the vehicle, the driver rolled down his window and said, “‘My baby’s choking.'”
“I jumped out of the car,” Greaney recalled. “I ran around to the rear passenger door, opened it up, and immediately pulled the baby out of her car seat, and started doing the maneuver on her back, patting her on the back, until I heard her cough.”
Greaney said the baby’s obstruction was cleared, and she was able to breathe again, and the tot’s father was able to breathe a sigh of relief.
While the father immediately drove away to get the baby a check-up, the detective was later able to connect with and confirm she had fully recovered.
Greaney told amNewYork that it was important to act quickly, and although it was a dire situation, he said he let his NYPD training take over.
“I went right back to what they told me years ago in the police academy. Just, every second counts. You have to get it done as quickly as possible. And that’s all I was trying to do,” Greaney said.
