Aurora police officer saves choking Colorado newborn at red light
An Aurora police officer who stopped at a red light earlier this month suddenly found himself fighting to save a Colorado newborn's life.
Officer Jerry Padilla was at Sable Boulevard and East Colfax Avenue when he heard honking behind him. At first, he thought the driver was impatient. Instead, it was panic ... and within seconds, a frantic mother placed her 1-week-old baby in his arms, saying the infant wasn't breathing. Body camera video shows Padilla immediately stepping in to help.
"In moments like that it's hard to think, you just act," he said. "So, I just grabbed the baby and started doing CPR."
Padilla, who has worked for APD less than two years, was only two hours into his overnight shift when the mother begged him to save her son.
"She was telling me he wasn't breathing, crying and telling me to help her," he recalled.
The officer said the mother thought her baby was choking, so tried to clear the baby's airway as he said to the infant in Spanish, "breathe, baby."
"The baby would breathe and then kind of stop breathing," he said. "I just continued until fire arrived on scene."
Padilla kept working for nearly 5 minutes, switching between back blows and chest compressions, until he finally heard the sound he was desperate for. When asked when he knew the baby would survive, Padilla said, "When I heard the baby cry ... it was a relieving moment for sure."
As paramedics took over, Padilla stayed on scene and translated for the Spanish speaking mother to make sure she understood her son was breathing again and stable.
Padilla says he doesn't consider himself a hero.
"I don't, I don't," he said. "I was just doing my job."
Weeks later, that job came full circle when Padilla reunited with the now healthy baby boy he helped save.
He says the moment still feels surreal.
"It's more being there at the right place at the right time," he said. "I think God had something to do with that."
First responders believe the baby may have choked on formula. Padilla hopes the emergency will encourage more people to learn CPR, saying these moments can happen to anyone and often without warning.
"You never know when you'll need it," he said.
