4 Cape officers helped save 4-year-old at fair parade

A 4-year-old is out of the hospital after suffering a serious allergic reaction during the SEMO District Fair parade Sept. 6.

Cape Girardeau police officers working the fair rushed the boy to the hospital after he became unresponsive near Burger King on Kingshighway, public-information officer Sgt. Rick Schmidt said.

Schmidt, who was assigned to lead the fair parade, was one of four officers involved in the rescue. Schmidt said the boy’s parents alerted Lt. Brad Smith, who was on an all-terrain vehicle. When the officers determined the severity of the situation and how the parade traffic may have slowed medical response time, they decided to transport the boy directly to SoutheastHEALTH.

“Officer [Jonathan] Brotz threw him in the car, Brad called me, and we stopped the parade,” Schmidt said. “Lt. Davis said, ‘Hey, I’m gonna jump in front and escort them to the hospital.’”

While the rescue was not standard protocol, officers successfully transported the boy to the hospital, from where he was airlifted to a St. Louis hospital. The boy was kept overnight and released, Schmidt said.

While Schmidt could not specify what caused the episode, he said the reaction “would have turned out extremely devastatingly for the family if everything hadn’t lined up just right that day.”

“He’s doing really, really good,” said Schmidt, whose family is friends with the boy’s. “We went to the Perry County Fair last weekend.”

tgraef@semissourian.com

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