From left: Assistant Chief Sean Patterson, Corporal Brad Duerr, Officer Ahmad Marion, Corporal Billy Pike

UT Police Department Assistant Chief Sean Patterson and his wife, Anaida, were driving on Highway 321 in Blount County on June 28 when they noticed a car rapidly pull over in the northbound lane. A man jumped out of the vehicle and went around to the rear passenger seat.

When the Pattersons came upon the scene, they found that the couple in the car had a one-year-old child who was choking. Patterson, a trained EMT, took the child, who was blue and not breathing, and delivered back blows. A lodged object cleared from the throat of the baby, who began to breathe and regain color.

The Blount County Sheriff’s Office and Friendsville Fire Department also responded to the scene.

For that act of valor, the Blount County Sheriff’s Office will present the Pattersons with a Citizen Service Award.

The incident is the second such life-saving event that UTPD officers have been involved with in the past month.

About a week earlier, on June 22, a middle-aged man left a doctor’s office in Farragut and went into diabetic shock not long after. His vehicle somehow ended up near Cumberland Avenue and 11th Street.

UTPD Corporal Billy Pike, Corporal Brad Duerr, and Officer Ahmad Marion saw the slow-moving vehicle and attempted to pull it over. They realized that the occupant was unresponsive, broke the window to stop the vehicle, and quickly called for medical assistance. The man’s daughter-in-law wrote in to UTPD to commend the officers for their actions.