Off-duty San Pablo police officer saves life of choking baby

Off-duty cop saves the life of choking baby

The incident was captured on cell phone video. The officer was driving home when he saw a woman in distress while holding a baby.

LIVERMORE, Calif. - A San Pablo police officer who saved a baby while off-duty in Livermore, insists that he's no hero.

"I just feel like I was at the right place at the right time. I think that anybody in that situation would have done the same thing," said Officer Gilbert Troche.

Cellphone video taken by the officer's 12-year-old daughter shows Troche helping a mother whose infant son isn't breathing on the side of the road.

"Oh my god! He's choking!" the girl exclaims.

It happened on Aug. 15 after Troche and his family had watched an action-hero movie. They were driving home when his wife saw a woman in distress.

"There was a lady on the side of the road, outside of her vehicle holding her baby in her arms and she appeared to be very distraught," Troche said.

Troche got out and asked if she needed help.

"She basically handed me the baby," he said. "I noticed the baby's face was blue."

He looks calm on the video, but in reality he says he was "almost as scared as she was at the time."

Troche said, "I leaned the baby over and tried a couple of back blows to try to clear the airway."

But it didn't seem to work.

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At one point, the officer turned toward his wife and mouthed the words "call 911."

The officer said he didn't that out loud because he didn't want an already stressful situation even more so.

He told the mother to do a finger sweep of the baby's mouth, and after some more back blows, "The baby coughed, vomited and started crying. The mother immediately grabbed the child from me and she embraced her son.

The officer's kids saw it all from the back seat.

"They talked about it all day long, which was awesome," Troche said with a laugh. "That was the best feeling."

San Pablo police Capt. Brian Bubar lauded his officer for the deed saying Troche "was compelled into action, and we're really grateful that he was there."

Troche's been with the police department since 2013. He's a field training officer known for making key arrests for drugs, guns and stolen cars.

Troche was named "Officer of the Year" in 2018.

But he noted, "This is awesome this is better."

The baby's parents declined to be interviewed. But a relative told KTVU that they were "super grateful" and really happy that this officer saved the little boy's life.