'God Put Me Here': Officer Stops at McDonald's to Get His K-9 Chicken Nuggets, Saves Baby's Life
Jan. 10 was a busy day for Senior Cpl. Sergio Perez of the Dallas Police Department, and it certainly ended on a high note.
For starters, it was Perez’s birthday. He had spent the evening working with his K9, Goro, and was particularly impressed with the dog’s training, so he decided to indulge in a very special late-night treat for his furry partner: chicken nuggets.
As Perez waited in the McDonald’s drive-thru, he heard a woman screaming. She was crying for help.
“So I pulled up to see what was going on, and a female came around the corner holding a child on her shoulders and she was yelling and screaming that she needed to get her child to the hospital because he was not breathing,” Perez told KTVT-TV.
Other officers nearby also responded, but it was Perez who immediately began CPR, trying to revive the 1-year-old boy in that McDonald’s parking lot.
Body camera footage of the rescue shows the moment when the boy began breathing again. The officers did their best to reassure the terrified mother that everything was going to be all right.
“He’s breathing! He’s breathing, ma’am,” Perez said.
“His eyes are blinking, he’s moving, ma’am,” another officer said.
Another officer held the boy’s hand as Perez continued administering CPR and called for an ambulance.
“You OK, buddy?” an officer said to the boy. “We got you, buddy.”
“My training kicked in and [I] stayed calm and just kept talking to the child and reassuring mom that everything was gonna be OK,” Perez said.
The boy had experienced a seizure but is doing well now, according to police.
Perez, a father himself, said he was glad he was able to be there — but he gave the credit for being in the right place at the right time to God, saying the whole thing was a result of divine intervention.
“I believe that God put me here that night for that reason, you know, because I normally don’t give Goro nuggets, but that night, since we were doing real good on training, I said, ‘You know what, my partner deserves some nuggets tonight,'” Perez said.
There aren’t many birthday presents as fulfilling as saving a life. No doubt Perez will remember this particular birthday for years to come.
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