By EMS1 Staff
NEW YORK — A rookie cop is being hailed a hero for jumping into action and saving an unresponsive baby with CPR.
FOX5NY reported that mother Rebeca Alarcon grabbed 20-month-old daughter Leah, who was unresponsive and having trouble breathing, and ran outside for help.
“When I saw she was not breathing, I panicked, really, I panicked,” Alarcon said. “I thought I was losing her.”
NYPD officer Osvaldo Nunez, who was standing outside of the station at the time, jumped into action and immediately began performing CPR.
“I was like, ‘I need CPR now!’” Alarcon said. “He literally just grabbed my daughter and did the CPR.”
Nunez said performed “two cycles of 25 chest compressions” on Leah.
“After the first cycle, the baby was still not responsive, not conscious, so I decided to go right into the second cycle of chest compressions,” Nunez said. “After the second one, she opened her eyes and a sign of relief—she started to move so we knew she was responsive.”
Leah regained consciousness after about a minute.
“It was really a miracle—it just happened in a second like, literally,” Alarcon said. “I thanked him a lot.”
Nunez has only been on the force for one month, and said his training in the academy “really paid off.”
His supervisor, Sgt. Carlos Ortiz, agreed.
“I told him, ‘It’s almost like you went to the World Series as a rookie,’” Sgt. Ortiz said. “Twenty-one years on the job, this is the first time I ever got to see something like that.”
Nunez was able to reunite with Leah at police station, and he said he’s very happy about the outcome of the incident.
“I wanted to become a police officer to assist, help the community, help people,” he said. “I’m really glad Leah’s now with her family. I’d do the same for anyone else in the community.”