A little boy lay in the hospital, scared and sobbing. Doctors couldn\u2019t calm him \u2014 until a nearby police officer gently asked, \u201cCan I hold him?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Officer James Hurst, a new member of the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department, has won widespread praise after comforting a 16-month-old child found wandering alone in Savannah\u2019s Cuyler-Brownsville neighborhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On May 9, Hurst was dispatched after residents spotted the toddler wandering through high-traffic areas. While his police training guided his actions, the officer admits that his experience as a father, including raising a child with Down Syndrome, deeply influenced how he responded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis job is so much more than just chasing the bad guys,\u201d Hurst said. \u201cIt is about serving the citizens of the communities you work in and doing what they need you to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The boy was taken to Memorial University Medical Center. During the medical examination, the frightened child began to cry. That\u2019s when Hurst asked the staff if he could hold him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe boy, obviously being so small, became very upset,\u201d Hurst explained. \u201cI picked him up, and minutes later, he was asleep on my chest. With all my body armor and gun belt, it became heavy, so I sat down on the bed and let him rest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hurst, a former U.S. Army Black Hawk crew chief, insists his actions weren\u2019t extraordinary. \u201cI didn\u2019t run into a burning building,\u201d he said. \u201cI was just there for a child. We do this type of stuff every day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Police later confirmed the child is safe and in stable condition. The case has been referred to Georgia\u2019s Department of Family & Children\u2019s Services for review.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A little boy lay in the hospital, scared and sobbing. Doctors couldn\u2019t calm him \u2014 until a nearby police officer gently asked, \u201cCan I hold him?\u201d Officer… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9473,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"views":110,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9472"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9474,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9472\/revisions\/9474"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}