Michigan officer catches baby dropped from second-story window of burning home

KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- A Michigan police officer is being praised for his quick thinking and quicker hands.

Caught on the officer's own body camera, the video shows how the officer located the mother and child at the second-story window of the burning home and then caught the child in mid-air.

The Michigan public safety officer who caught the baby is Public Safety Officer Michael Arnett of the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety.

On May 15, Arnett spotted a mother and her infant trapped in a second-floor window of a burning home on Washington Avenue in the Edison neighborhood of Kalamazoo. He instructed her to kick out the screen and drop the baby into his arms; he then caught the child safely. The baby was then handed to another officer, and a ladder was used to rescue the mother. Both were taken to a hospital for precautionary evaluation but were unharmed.

Arnett, who has been with KDPS for over four years, said he acted on instinct, noting that “lives can’t be replaced” and that the mother “had zero hesitation” in saving the child first.