Trooper Who Saved Baby Girl Has Premature Baby Himself

PISCATAWAY, NJ — This past Saturday, an off-duty State Trooper from Piscataway saved the life of a newborn baby girl who was choking on her own spit-up.

And now Trooper Robert Meyer reveals that the reason he so quickly knew what to do is because he himself is the father of a baby boy who was born prematurely.

"We saw a lot of babies getting suctioned. They're all small, they have a lot of complications," Meyer told reporters in an interview on his street Monday.

The baby girl's father talked to ABC 7 Eyewitness News:

"She turned over, spit up heavy mucous and she started to suffocate," the baby's father told Eyewitness News Monday. "We flipped her over and started patting her back, and immediately called 911."

It was 1:15 p.m. Saturday afternoon, and Meyer was actually asleep in his home, having worked the overnight shift the night before. Desperate, the choking baby's grandmother saw his marked police vehicle in his driveway and ran four doors down to his house. She pounded on his front door.

"I saw him flying out of the front door, no shoes on, just bed clothes on," said neighbor Peter Jackey, who lives on that block.

"They attempted to pat her on the back, and it wasn't doing anything," Meyer said. "I asked if anybody had any kind of suction that I'd be able to use to clear her airways. Luckily, the dad did have one. While she was feeding, she vomited, and it was vomit and mucous that got caught in her nose and her throat."

Two-week-old Baby Girl Elizabeth was taken to a local hospital and evaluated, where she was doing just fine, with zero complications from the terrifying incident.

Past Patch reporting: NJ State Trooper Saves Choking Baby In Piscataway