GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A Georgia police officer received the lifesaving award for his heroic actions. Gwinnett County Police Cpl. Linsey E. Meador was honored in a special ceremony Thursday at 2 p.m.
Cpl. Meador jumped into action to help save a baby who had stopped breathing last September.
He has spent 10 years with the Gwinnett County Police Department and has a total of 17 years of experience in law enforcement. When his neighbors frantically began knocking on his family's door – he didn't hesitate to help.
"My wife gets up and checks the door and it was our next-door neighbor," Cpl. Meador recalled.
The distressed mother frantically said her baby was not breathing and he was choking. Cpl. Meador said he immediately ran across the street to where the baby was.
"Once I got there, they had the baby in their hands and... was just limp. There was no life," he said.
The off-duty police officer immediately took the baby in his hands and checked his pulse. There were no signs the baby was breathing.
Cpl. Meador then began giving the baby CPR. After a few agonizing minutes, the baby was finally able to breathe again.
"He kind of took a big gasp of air," he said. "He finally came back to [life]."
Cpl. Meador said he'll never forget that moment.
"It was amazing, I cannot even express how great it was," he said. "It was kind of like all of the stress had just lifted off my shoulders. I just brought this child back."
Cpl. Meador stayed with the baby and his parents until the ambulance arrived. He said he was later told the baby had a seizure, which may have been triggered due to an "extremely high fever."
Months later, Cpl. Meador said he saw the baby playing with his parents in their yard. It reminded him of his own four kids.
"As a parent, it kind of hit home because it wasn't too long ago, my kids were that age," he said. "To have a young life in your hands and to think of 'it could've been yours.' It changes your life, it makes you think of what good you have and what amazing training that you have encountered with the department here."