Officers save baby choking on chicken nugget

  • 05/08/2018

A mother's worst fear played out before her very own eyes.

Ana Graham's baby girl, Lucia, turned red after a piece of chicken got stuck in her throat at the Palm Beach Gardens Mall in Florida.

Luckily, two police officers heard her cries for help.

Ms Graham says the two Palm Beach Gardens police officers, Robert Ayala and Rafael Guadalupe, were selfless and didn't hesitate to save her 14-month-old daughter.

She says everything began when her daughter took a bite of a chicken nugget. Moments later, she saw a look of terror on Lucia's face and her heart began racing.

"I remember feeling like vertigo, like 'oh my gosh something really bad is happening'," she said.

Her motherly instinct kicked in. She started slapping her daughters back, but Lucia's throat wouldn't clear, so she screamed.

"Please call 911, somebody please call 911."

Little did she know, two police officers were also in the food court and rushed over. Ms Graham handed her baby to the officers, then got on her knees. Her daughter was still choking and her face was turning red.

"It was several minutes, so I thought this could be it," she said.

A thought Ms Graham couldn't shake was that she almost lost Lucia.

"I remember at some point just turning away because I can't see what's going to happen."

However, one of the officers' slaps dislodged the chicken nugget.

Lucia - alive and well.
Lucia - alive and well. Photo credit: CBS

Lucia and Ms Graham ended up leaving the mall in their car, not an ambulance. Ms Graham credits officers Robert Ayala and Rafael Guadalupe.

"Because of you, our family is intact and I know those guys are angels who saved our daughter's life," she said, holding back tears.

On Thursday night, the Palm Beach Gardens City Council honoured those two officers. They received an award alongside baby Lucia.

Ms Graham says this incident inspired her and several other mothers she knows to take infant CPR classes.

CBS