“When I ran over I saw poor Ethan lying on his back. I could see he was not breathing. His eyes were open and he needed help,” Officer Raul Vega of the El Monte, California Police Department tells Inside Edition.
Police used a LifeVac to save an 8-year-old boy who lost consciousness after choking on a piece of hard candy.
Ethan Cante, 8, choked on a piece of hard candy while playing with friends.
“I just couldn’t believe it. I didn't want to believe that he was not breathing,” Vanessa Becerra tells Inside Edition.
Officer Raul Vega of the El Monte Police Department in California was first on the scene.
“When I ran over I saw poor Ethan lying on his back. I could see he was not breathing. His eyes were open and he needed help,” Vega tells Inside Edition.
Vega picked the child up and rushed to get a LifeVac device out of the patrol car. The LifeVac is designed to clear the airways and resembles a bathroom plunger.
"Place it over the mouth, form a good seal, and when you make a thrusting motion up and down, the pressure removes the obstruction,” Vega says.
Ethan started breathing but needed a larger LifeVac, which Vega then used. Ethan eventually regained consciousness,
The boy tells Inside Edition he knows what happened that day.
“I was eating candy and then I choked on one,” Cante says.
“They're heroic for sure because I was thinking what would have happened if they didn't have that device with them,” Becerra says.
According to LifeVac’s research, more than 100 lives have been saved due to Inside Edition stories about the device.
