Fortunately for Office Tyler York, he picked the right place to eat earlier this week. The Paris Coffee Shop was his choice for a last-minute lunch break on Tuesday and it was just his luck. The restaurant is only open for breakfast and lunch and closes at 2:30 p.m.

A five year veteran of the Fort Worth Police Department, York, 31, ordered the Tuesday Special – beef tips with steamed rice and a side order of mashed potatoes. The menu was carefully selected because he is still recovering from the loss of several teeth earlier this year in a softball mishap.

After just a few bites, the officer began choking. He knew he was choking and he couldn’t breathe. Panic set in and he fought for about 45 seconds when Mike Smith, the owner of the Fort Worth institution for the last 48 years, stepped in.

Smith realized the customer was in trouble and moved quickly to his aid. Another employee, the only other person to act in a restaurant which had two dozen customers at the time of the incident, tried unsuccessfully to employ the Heimlich maneuver. Smith took a turn at it and was successful. He said he was afraid his own size might break the officer’s ribs but he knew clearing his airways was more important than a few broken ribs. The restaurateur has only seen two other choking instances in his nearly half-century at the shop.

Fort Worth Police Chief Jeffrey Halstead presented Smith with a plaque, thanking him for his life-saving actions in front of a lunch crowd on Friday. The chief called Mike a hero and that was met with a round of applause from patrons of the shop, situated on the corner of Hemphill Street and West Magnolia Avenue.

Smith was both pleased and surprised by the honor.

York couldn’t be more grateful. He believes Smith went above and beyond the call of duty when no one did and he is now a customer for life…literally.

When a five year old boy was kidnapped in Texas, his quick-thinking and technology-savvy dad was able to assist police in locating the boy with the use of an iPad and an iPhone.

The father stopped at a local liquor store and left his son in the 2001 Ford Explorer. Fortunately dad took his iPad with him inside the store. When he left the store, he discovered his car – and his son – were gone.

Using the “Find My iPhone” app on his iPad, he was able to assist police.

A spokesperson for the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office, Lt. Wayne Schultz explained how the father used the iPad in conjunction with the iPhone still in the vehicle to track its whereabouts. Fortunately the man had taken the iPad with him into the store.

The information was passed onto from deputies on the scene to the dispatch office. From there the information was disseminated to troops out in the field almost immediately. This enabled officers to respond almost instantly to the kidnapping and theft.

The vehicle was located and the suspect taken into custody. The boy was evaluated at an area medical facility before being pronounced OK. Even though the story had a happy ending, this is one father who may rethink the idea of leaving his young child in an unattended vehicle.

Earlier this year, GPS was used to thwart two other crimes as well. In South Carolina, a GPS device hidden among building materials that were stolen helped police locate the goods. In Connecticut, the GPS app on a phone helped police locate a pair of robbery suspects. It would seem technology has come a long way in helping stop crime or in solving it once it has occurred.

The Phoenix police stepped in when the outdoor lights and Christmas decorations were stolen from the home of Linzy Smith, a 5-year-old girl with a potentially life-threatening illness.

Linzy suffers from a rare form of dwarfism. She will be spending her holiday season in the hospital so that she can undergo a potentially life-saving bone marrow transplant. Her mother, Jessica Smith, wanted Linzy to have the full holiday experience and decorated the family’s home a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving.

The house was adorned with lights, lighted reindeer, trees and a Santa with a sleigh. On Nov. 21, the decorations were stolen. Officers Jake Lewis and David Head of the Maryvale Precinct heard about the theft and did what they could to restore the little girl’s Christmas.

Lewis contacts Angels on Patrol, an organization that works with police to assist families in crisis in Phoenix and Tempe, Ariz. Together, the police and Angels on Patrol were able to help the Smith family redecorate the house. Officer Lewis even helped the family with groceries out of his own pocket. He is a father too and has another child on the way.

Smith told reporters that if Linzy survives her bone marrow transplant, she will be scheduled for a kidney transplant next. She counts every day as a blessing.

Donations for Linzy can be sent to Wells Fargo #1064675190.