Gardens cops who saved choking baby at mall are ‘angels,’ mom says

PALM BEACH GARDENS, FL  –  Two Palm Beach Gardens police officers are heroes to a panicked mom whose 14-month-old daughter turned blue while choking on a chicken nugget at The Gardens Mall two weeks ago.

Lucia Graham has been eating solid food — and a lot of it — since she was 9 months old, but on that afternoon, the chicken nugget she was chomping on got wedged in her throat, mom Ana Graham said.  The Wellington mother of two could tell right away that something was wrong.

“On her second bite, I noticed she looked at me with her eyes wide open.  She started turning red,” she said.

She yanked Lucia from her stroller and patted her on the back like the pediatrician taught her, but to no avail.  Lucia started turning blue.

Then, “like angels from heaven,” two Palm Beach Gardens police officers who had been sitting across the food court appeared, she said.

Officer Robert Ayala, who had been assigned to the mall July 21, saw Ana Graham “frantically” get up and go to the stroller minutes after the family sat down.  He ran up and grabbed the baby, put her face down on his left hand and struck her upper back with his palm a few times.  Then he swept her mouth with his finger.

No luck.

The stubborn chicken nugget remained stuck until Ayala forcefully patted little Lucia on her back again.  That’s when she finally spewed out the mushy nugget.

As the ordeal was unfolding, Officer Rafael Guadalupe immediately got on his radio to call for Palm Beach Gardens Fire Rescue and talked to Ana Graham to try to keep her calm.

Ayala said he usually likes to walk around the mall so that people see him in uniform as a crime deterrent.  He was at the food court only because Guadalupe was there for lunch.

“It was just the right place at the right time,” he said.

Palm Beach Gardens police undergo CPR and first aid training — including how to respond to choking adults and infants — at least every other year, department spokesman Maj. Paul Rogers said.  Ayala credits his training for his quick response.

“This thing happened so fast, you didn’t have time to react.  It’s just like muscle memory,” said Ayala, a father of three.

The Palm Beach Gardens City Council honored Ayala and Guadalupe Thursday night.  Ayala previously received a life-saving award for forming a human chain with other officers to save two firefighters who got trapped in a rip-current effect as they attempted to rescue a young man who drowned in a spillway while wake-skating.

As for Lucia, paramedics checked her out as a precaution.  The scare didn’t stop her from finishing her lunch.

Lucia’s 2 1/2-year-old brother, William, unfazed by the incident, continued eating his chicken and french fries.

Dad Curt Graham got a very long text message while he was at work, “which is never a good thing.”  He called his wife, who was shaken up as she recounted what happened.

He’s “eternally grateful for the fast action,” he said.