Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
CENTERVILLE — We know them as the men and women who answer our calls for help in our most desperate times — they are the first responders. When moments matter, our Utah police officers answer the call.
Officer Jason Read's work day starts at the Centerville Police Department. The walk between the building to his patrol car means on this day anything can happen.
"We do a little bit of everything, but I spend most of my time driving around on patrol," Read said from the driver's seat of his patrol car.
"We each try and handle our fair share of calls that come in," he said.
On Tuesday, the call was the first of its kind for the almost 10-year veteran of the force.
"We were getting very little information," he remembered. "All we knew is it was a possible drowning."
He was the first to arrive at the scene.
I jump out of my car, run up to the door and the front door is locked so I got to run around the garage, run upstairs and that's where I find the 1-year-old.
–Police Officer Jason Read
"I jump out of my car, run up to the door and the front door is locked. So I got to run around the garage, run upstairs and that's where I find the 1-year-old."
The little boy, who was left unattended in a bathtub for just a moment, was hovering between life and death.
"There was no breathing, there was no pulse, there was no nothing. The child was pretty blue, almost purple," Read said.
Read said his instincts and training took over. He began CPR on the toddler and continued until backup arrived.
"I have three little kids and so these kinds of situation are pretty difficult."
He watched as paramedics loaded the little boy into a waiting medical helicopter. It was only then that Jason Read says his training faded away and made space for Jason the father.
"I walked in that night and grabbed my kids and I hugged and I told them that I loved them."
The toddler was placed in a medically induced coma for one day following the near drowning, but on Friday, Centerville police said the baby had made great improvements and was expected to recover.
Read shies away from the word "hero," and instead gives credit to the other firefighters and paramedics that also helped that day.
