KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City, Missouri, Police officer attending last Thursday’s School Day at the K with his son was in the right spot at the right time.
School day, which featured thousands of students from across Kansas City, offered an educational opportunity for students to learn about science and weather.
After several experiments by the KSHB 41 Weather Team on the field at Kauffman Stadium, students and their families hit the parking lot for interactive games, exhibits and a bite to eat for lunch before returning to the stadium to watch the Royals take on the White Sox.
Officer Matt Deloux took Thursday off so he and his son could take part in the pre-game. It was during this time when a kid approached Deloux and grabbed his arm.
“I thought he was playing at first, but then I saw he was in distress and not making any sounds,” Deloux recalled to fellow officers. “He was choking.”
Deloux estimated the boy to be about 10 years-old, which made him leery of any injuries that might happened if he performed the heimliech maneuver.
Instead, Deloux bent the boy over, but his arm across the boy’s diaphragm and then started to strike his back.
Deloux says it took a minute and several strikes to dislodge what turned out to be a chocolate bar.
“No one likes bad things to happen, especially to kids,” Deloux recalled in an interview Monday. “It was nice I was able to be here and help in that moment.”
Deloux wasn’t in uniform, so when he asked the boy why the boy chose him, the boy said Deloux looked “the most professional.”
The boy and Deloux waited while the boy’s father came down from Platte City, Missouri, to pick him up.
Deloux told his fellow officers that he had previously saved his own son years prior when his son had choked on food.
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