Young girls love to play pretend, but sometimes their boundless curiosity leads to trouble. A four-year-old girl found herself in a life-threatening state while playing pretend with an industrial-strength plastic zip tie. D/Cst. Wes King arrived to find a family in panic.
The little girl had managed to put the zip tie around her neck, just under her jaw. Every attempt to remove it tightened it even more. She was turning blue from a lack of oxygen, frantically gasped for air. Now the black zip tie was so tight, it could barely been seen. Wes took physical control of the girl to calm her. Attempts to get a knife under it failed and one wrong move could have had disastrous results. D/Cst. King came up with a new plan using firefighter’s scissors.
Driving his two thumbs with great force into the back of her neck, he created a few millimeters of space. A firefighter forced the scissors under the zip tie and snipped; the plastic band flew off due to the extreme pressure it was under. Wes held the girl and comforted her as the oxygen slowly returned to her body. His quick thinking saved her young life.
