A pair of Los Angeles police officers are being hailed as heroes after reviving a 3-week-old boy who had stopped breathing after being dropped by his father during a domestic dispute.
Police received 911 calls Saturday with reports of domestic violence at an apartment near Columbia Avenue and Miramar Street. They say that during an argument with the child's mother, the father spiked the baby to the ground like a football.
"It's just unbelievable someone could hurt a child," said neighbor Leonardo Artiga.
Neighbor had called police because they were scared when they heard yelling coming from inside the apartment, just feet away from the front door. Police say that after being slammed to the ground, the baby stopped breathing and that's when the woman ran outside screaming for help.
When officers arrived, they found that the child's mother had suffered scratches during a fight with the father.
She was holding the little baby in her arms. Both fathers of young children, the two officers were struck by the scene and the sight of the newborn, nearly lifeless in his mother's arms.
"To see him like that, so defenseless, so vulnerable, it’s tough to see," said Officer Ivan Ibarra.
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Ibarra's partner, Officer Alex Frazier, quickly began chest compressions on the infant. After about a minute of the compressions, the child began breathing again.
"It was amazing, just to see the baby’s lip move. To see him move his neck, a facial expression, it let me know there was hope," Frazier said.
The boy is expected to survive, and his father was arrested for child abuse.
Meanwhile, neighbors are thankful that the officer's actions saved the infant. “There’s still a lot of kindhearted people and they’re trying to serve and protect this country and this place,” Artiga said.
Editor's note: This story was updated at 10:22 p.m. March 4, 2018 to add comments from Ibarra and Frazier.
