Rookie NYPD cop saves baby with CPR

NEW YORK (FOX5NY.COM) - A Queens mom is crediting a rookie NYPD officer for saving her daughter's life. Just after 9 p.m. Monday, Rebeca Alarcon noticed that her 20-month-old daughter, Leah, was having trouble breathing and was unresponsive.

"When I saw she was not breathing, I panicked, really, I panicked," Alarcon said. "I thought I was losing her."

Not wanting to waste any time waiting for 911 responders, she grabbed the baby and ran down the block to the 115th Precinct in Jackson Heights.

Police Officer Osvaldo Nunez, 22, happened to be standing outside the station house.

"I was like, 'I need CPR now!'" Alarcon said. "He literally just grabbed my daughter and did the CPR."

Nunez said he placed Leah on the ground and started CPR.

"I did two cycles of 25 chest compressions. 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."

Within just a minute or so, Leah was awake and responsive. An ambulance was on its way.

"It was really a miracle—it just happened in a second like, literally," Alarcon said. "I thanked him a lot."

It was a remarkable save for any officer, especially one like Nunez, who just graduated from the police academy and has only been on the force for a month.

"I feel like the training we did in the academy really paid off," he said.

"I told him, 'It's almost like you went to the World Series as a rookie,'" said Sgt. Carlos Ortiz, his supervisor. "Twenty-one years on the job, this is the first time I ever got to see something like that."

At the precinct Tuesday, Nunez reunited with a healthy baby Leah and her family. As news cameras rolled, he seemed humbled by all the attention he is getting for just doing his job.

"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."