This is the incredible moment Florida city workers saved the life of a three-year-old boy who was choking on a candy, caught on camera.
What seemed like an ordinary day started with a father and his young son waiting in line at the post office at the North Bay Village Town Hall, but things took a sudden turn when a piece of candy got stuck in the boy's throat .
Fortunately, North Bay Village Customer Service Manager Rodolfo Santana and his colleague quickly stepped in to help.
The heroic moment was captured on a nearby surveillance camera and Santana spoke to them WPLG Local 10 on Thursday.
The breathtaking emergency occurred Monday at the North Bay Village City Hall building in Miami-Dade County, Florida.
The incredible moment Florida city crews saved the life of a three-year-old boy who was choking on a candy was caught on camera
North Bay Village Customer Service Manager Rodolfo Santana (pictured) and his colleague quickly stepped in to help
A typical day started with a father and his young son waiting in line at the post office at North Bay Village Town Hall (pictured), but things took a sudden turn when a piece of candy got stuck in the boy's throat .
In the footage captured by a nearby security camera, the father is seen queuing at the post office with his three-year-old son.
In a sudden turn of events, the boy ran to his father, who immediately bent over and appeared panicked in the video.
Santana and his colleague ran to the pair and offered their help at the heartbreaking moment.
“I heard a lady yelling, 'Someone was choking, some kid was choking,'” Santana told the local newspaper.
“It seemed like the father was struggling and panicking a bit, so I stepped in to help and grabbed the boy.”
The staff leaned over to check on the boy, pushed the child into their arms, struck from behind and continued to squeeze the child's back and chest.
After one minute and twenty seconds the candy was released, but for Santana and the father the emergency lasted much longer.
“In my mind, it felt like it lasted forever,” Santana said.
The footage captured by a nearby security camera shows a father waiting in line at the post office with his three-year-old son.
In a sudden turn of events, the boy ran to his father, who immediately bent over and appeared panicked in the video
The staff leaned over to check on the boy, pushed the child into their arms, struck from behind and continued to compress the child's back and chest.
The young boy's father spoke on the phone with a local reporter and expressed his gratitude to the two individuals who came to the rescue.
Local residents took to social media to praise city staff for their great work in saving the young child's life.
'Rodolfo is a great guy. He always helps me when he is around. He was already my hero and now more than ever he needs to be recognized,” one user wrote on Facebook.
More than 12,000 children are taken to emergency rooms every year suffering from choking, statistics show, and every five days one child dies from choking on food.
Mayo Clinic doctor Grace Arteaga told DailyMail.com that parents should hold babies face down in their lap or on a surface and pat their back firmly repeatedly until the blockage clears.
She warned that many well-intentioned people make the mistake of reaching into a child's throat to clear the blockage.
She said: 'This could force it even further down.'