Quick-Thinking Rookie Cop Saves Unresponsive Baby Girl In Queens
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A rookie NYPD officer was being hailed as a hero after he sprung to action to save a baby who had stopped breathing.
It happened Monday night at Rebeca Alarcon's home around the corner from the 115th Police Precinct in Jackson Heights, Queens. She says her baby, 20-month-old Leah, suddenly stopped breathing.
"I screamed 'I need help please call 911' to her father, 'please call 911'," Rebeca told CBS2. Recognizing time was of the essence, she opted to take Leah to the nearby precinct herself.
Officer Osvaldo Nunez, a 22-year-old rookie, was the first cop she saw. He was standing right at the front door when Rebeca walked in.
"She was really scared," Nunez recalled. "Her daughter wasn't breathing."
Both mom and Nunez knew Leah didn't have much time.
"She was unconscious, unresponsive," Nunez said. "She had no pulse."
Without missing a beat, the first-year cop picked the baby up and brought her inside. He laid her down and immediately started doing chest compressions.
"He knew what he was doing," Deputy Inspector Carlos Ortiz said. "He knew what he had to do and nothing was going to stop him from saving that child."
Nunez just graduated from the police academy last month, so this was his first time giving CPR to anyone. He managed to stay calm through 25 CPR cycles until the precious Leah woke up. He says once she came-to, she gave him a hug and laid on his shoulder.
"It's like a rookie in baseball and you win the World Series in your first year," Ortiz said.
Leah was treated at the hospital for the high fever that lead to her to lose consciousness. Once she felt better, Leah's mom brought her back to the precinct to say thank you.
In the end, Nunez says the experience reminds him of "a nice ending of a movie." Little Leah is now back on her feet thanks to her hero right around the corner.