Indiana Cops Meets Abandoned Baby He Saved 24 Years Later

Police, Firefighters, and Paramedics make up our public safety organizations around the country. Every day they are going out and putting their lives in danger to save the lives of everyday citizens, making their jobs one of the hardest and scariest jobs on the planet. They often are given small tokens of appreciation but other times they are left wondering where the people they saved end up. This can be hard on first responders emotionally both when they are doing well and when they are not.

Sometimes the worst calls for first responders are the ones where they don't know what to expect, as things could go any which way. A lot of these calls end with the cop, firefighter, or paramedic wondering about the results and the whereabouts of the save. Sometimes that person will drop by the station or send something sharing their gratitude, other times they never find out. For this cop in Indiana, he found out 24 years later what happened to a young boy he saved.

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Gene Esyter is a retired police lieutenant who still has crazy flashbacks about the night he entered an apartment complex and saved an abandoned baby, every time he drives by. Eyster said it was one of the strangest things he had seen in his 47-year career and he always wondered what had happened to the baby. Well, now 24 years later he was surprised to find out that the baby had followed in his footsteps.

Not too long ago, Eyster received a call from a fellow officer asking if he recalls the abandoned baby he saved on the apartment complex call over 20 years ago. Gene says of course, which prompts the officer to share that the baby was sitting next to him all grown up and was his rookie. The baby had grown up and become a cop but hadn't connected his origin story to Eyster until after he joined the department.

The baby-turned-rookie is Matthew Hegedus-Stewart, who now wears the same uniform and patrols the same neighborhood as Eyster once did. Hegedus-Stewart had this to say about the phenomenon:

"It's a full circle moment that hit home. I can only imagine from his point of view."

Their reunion and their new friendship came just a few months after Eyster's only son, Nick, died unexpectedly at the age of 36. "So the timing couldn't have been any better, it helped to fill a void that I've had to deal with," Eyster said. Twenty-four years ago, Eyster was called to be there for a child in need.  Now, the child is set to return the favor.  And whether it's a coincidence or not, the result is undeniably great police work.

Learn more and watch a video here: 24 years ago, an officer was dispatched to an abandoned baby. Decades later, he finally learned that baby's surprising identity. - CBS News