If a very young infant suddenly becomes unable to breathe, the grim reality is there’s precious little time before that baby will die. That was the harrowing situation in which New Canaan Police Officer Ronald Bentley Jr. found himself Monday evening, Jan. 13, but thanks to the calm, effective actions he took, four-month-old Mark Evseev’s life was saved.
“He was in my arms, and all of a sudden he started wheezing and becoming limp,” Kirill Evseev, the baby’s father, told the Advertiser in describing his son’s reaction that day. The family had just fed Mark and his 6-year-old sister Sophie and was preparing to put the kids to bed.
Moments earlier, the baby was “fussing and crying,” but once he began having trouble breathing, he “quickly started to turn pale,” the family wrote in a letter to Police Chief Leon Krolikowski. Then the baby, “in a matter of seconds, started turning blue.”
“My wife quickly said to call 911 because it didn’t seem like Mark was responding to anything we were trying to do,” Evseev said. “It seemed like a lot of time, but it really happened very quickly; we can hardly remember most of it. It’s a very scary blur.”
Officer Bentley was dispatched at about 8:54 and rushed to the scene. “Upon Officer Bentley’s arrival he was met by the child’s grandmother who quickly led him to the kitchen, where the four-month-old child appeared lifeless,” Lieutenant Fred Pickering and Sergeant Joe Farenga wrote in a report.
“Officer Bentley arrived and he just ran in. I almost don’t know what he did, really,” Evseev said. “I can’t really describe it — in my head, it was like, ‘What can I do to save my son? Is this really happening?’”
Close to home
Recognizing signs that Mark was not breathing, Officer Bentley immediately “opened the baby’s shirt and began applying a sternum rub. This was ineffective,” according to the report. “Officer Bentley quickly rolled the baby over and began administering back blows, pausing after a moment to roll the baby back over to see the baby was still unconscious and still not breathing,” it continues.
In those moments, Officer Bentley said he could picture his own family. Remarkably, he has an infant son and a 3-year-old daughter who’s about to turn 4, not very different than the Evseev children.
“When I was in there and providing the medical help to the baby, I’m thinking of my son and how I don’t want this family to not have their son around any more,” Officer Bentley said. “He’s four months old, and my son is three months old, so they’re very similar in age.
“I was going to do everything in my power to make this baby breathe.”
Officer Bentley quickly rolled the baby back over to administer more back blows. Suddenly, Bentley said, “The baby started fluttering his eyes open and vomited — it’s probably the only time I’ve been so happy something got on a good, clean uniform.”
By then, the New Canaan Volunteer Ambulance Corps had arrived. “There were a lot of tears, a lot of emotion,” Officer Bentley recalled. The baby’s breathing had stabilized and color began returning to his cheeks as Bentley handed Mark to EMTs and explained what had happened.
After this very distressing experience, Bentley remained with the family to comfort each of them as the EMTs assessed Mark, the baby’s father said. The officer “talked to me, he talked to my mother-in-law, he talked to my daughter,” even telling young Sophie about his own daughter, Evseev told the Advertiser. “He talked to my wife, who at the time was almost inconsolable.”
Just doing his job
“There are no words that can express our feelings, and we will always be in awe of what Officer Bentley did,” the family wrote. “Officer Bentley is our hero and we would like to make sure that his colleagues, friends and family are aware of what an incredible person he is.”
Officer Bentley received the Medical Service Award for his actions in a ceremony at the Police Department Monday afternoon, Jan. 27. “You just come to do your job, and I was in the right place at the right time,” he said after receiving the award. “My training kicked in, and I was able to save the baby’s life.”
A few weeks prior, on Thursday, Jan. 16, baby Mark Evseev had been released from Norwalk Hospital after several days of observation. “They did conclude that it was a milk intolerance combined with some severe case of acid reflux,” Kirill Evseev told the Advertiser. “That’s basically their conclusion right now, so they’ve made changes in his feeding and given him medication so it won’t happen again.”
And Officer Bentley got the chance to stop by to see Mark after his return home. “He came over and he took Mark in his arms,” Evseev said. “Obviously, at four months old, Mark doesn’t really recognize anyone but his parents, but he was smiling.”
“He’s doing well,” Officer Bentley said. “I held him, and as I handed him back to the mother he vomited again, this time missing me. It was funny.
“I don’t know if I’d have been as happy if he got me this time around,” Bentley joked.
A round of applause breaks out after the Medical Service Award is given to Officer Ronald Bentley Jr., left, who stands next to Chief Leon Krolikowski, Lieutenant Fred Pickering, Sergeant Joe Farenga and Captain Vincent DeMaio. (Aaron Marsh photo)