Officer Michael Houck (left) accepts the Rotary Club's Public Safety Vocational Excellence Award from club president David Aft. Assistant Chief Truman Whitfield (right) introduced Officer Houck.
The Rotary Club of Dalton recognized Officer Michael Houck with its annual Public Safety Vocational Excellence Award. The award was presented at a luncheon on Tuesday honoring Officer Houck and other recipients from Dalton/Whitfield area public safety agencies.
Officer Houck was the subject of media coverage over the summer as he saved a baby from choking thanks to being in the right place at the right time. On Aug. 11, Mr. Houck was responding to a minor car crash on Foster Street about half a block from the child’s home.
As Mr. Houck was preparing to leave the scene, a neighbor of the victim ran up to him and began frantically speaking to Mr. Houck in Spanish. One of the drivers involved in the crash translated and told Officer Houck that a baby was choking. Houck ran with the neighbor to 1107 Foster Street where the child’s mother was in the front yard with the baby in her arms. She gave the seven-month-old baby to Mr. Houck, who found that the child was not crying or breathing. Mr. Houck turned the baby over and began to apply back thrusts until the baby coughed up a small piece of a carrot. The baby immediately began to cry and gasp for air.
With the driver’s help, Officer Houck spoke to the baby’s mother and determined that the baby had pulled a sheet of jalapeno peppers over onto himself and the peppers irritated his skin and caused swelling. Officer Houck and the baby’s mother flushed the child’s skin with water as emergency medical personnel arrived. The EMS crew determined that the baby was OK.
Officer Houck has been serving with the Dalton Police Department since June 2007. In July of last year he was promoted to Police Officer 1st Class. During the course of his career with the agency, he has received five letters of commendation, an outstanding performance award in February 2008 and he was honored as the agency's employee of the month in August 2014.
Each year, the Rotary Club of Dalton recognizes public safety employees in the community who go above and beyond the call of duty. Award recipients were chosen by both their superiors and their peers for the awards.