Bulletin Notes
Law enforcement officers are challenged daily in the performance of their duties; they face each encounter freely and unselfishly while answering the call to duty. In certain instances, their actions warrant special attention from their respective departments. The Bulletin also wants to recognize those situations that transcend the normal rigors of the law enforcement profession.
Assistant Chief Sean Patterson of the University of Tennessee Police Department in Knoxville and his wife were driving along a state highway one Sunday evening when they noticed a car rapidly pull over. 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 1-year-old child who was choking and unconscious. Assistant Chief Patterson, off duty, 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.
Responding law enforcement and fire agencies credited Assistant Chief Patterson with saving the baby’s life.
Assistant Chief Sean Patterson
Nominations for the Bulletin Notes should be based on either the rescue of one or more citizens or an arrest(s) made at unusual risk to an officer’s safety. Submissions should include a short write-up, a separate photograph of each nominee, and a letter from the department’s ranking officer endorsing the nomination. Submissions can be e-mailed to leb@fbi.gov or mailed to Editor, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, FBI Academy, Quantico, VA 22135.