This story goes to show police officers are faced with all kinds of different situations and must adapt quickly. In this case, it wasn't a crook or a crime that was the problem, rather it was a zip tie and a curious child.
What started as just a traffic stop near Spencer Highway and Shaver quickly turned much bigger for Pasadena Police Department Sgt. Jerry Wright when he was confronted by a frantic mother whose young son somehow got a hold of a zip tie. They had no time to spare.
"You only have a couple of minutes," Pediatrician Dr. Debra Cutler said.
Two cameras inside a patrol car captured the entire incident. You can see the mother run to the officer who was writing a ticket for help. They then quickly go to his car where he retrieves a seatbelt cutting tool and cuts the zip tie.
The mother gives her son a big hug. Though crying and scared, he was uninjured.
Cutler has seen all kinds of similar accidents.
"Children are danger magnets, it doesn't matter how perfectly you've taken care of the house, they will find something," Dr. Cutler said.
Pasadena police released the video as a warning to other parents about the dangers of zip ties. Sgt. Wright didn't necessarily want to be recognized.
"That kid put a big ol' tie wrap around his neck and he was choking out and I just saved his life," the 20-year veteran told a fellow officer on the video.
Dr. Cutler says if you dont get something like a zip tie off quickly, a child's neck could start to swell and it becomes more difficult to do so, not to mention the obvious strangulation danger. According to the National Safe Kids Campaign in 2001, 695 children ages 14 and under died from unintentional suffocation, strangulation and entrapment.
