Five Miami-Dade Police Officers Honored For Their Life Saving Effort
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - To serve and protect and sometimes to bring back to life!
It's all in a day's work for five Miami-Dade police officers.
Field Training Officers Enrique Lagunas Jr., Richard Munoz Jr., and Melanie Ginoris along with Probationary Officers Mariel Navarrete and Laura Gil each received a special lifesaving award on Friday.
One by one, the officers shook the hand of the man they helped save.
"I don't know what they done, but I'm here. And I thank y'all for that and I thank God," said James Little.
Little, 91, has cancer and he recently collapsed, unconscious in a bathroom. His wife Annie called for help.
"He was dead and they brought him back around," she said. "They were working on him. I just thank God that they did what they did."
Probationary Officer Laura Gil has only been on the force since May, but she said her training immediately kicked in as they started performing lifesaving CPR.
"I really can't believe it. Everything they taught us, everything they instilled in us is exactly what we're taking to the streets and we're practicing," Ofc. Gil said.
Little's daughter, Barbara Boyd, wants to make sure the entire community knows just how grateful the family is for their service.
"We're just here to say 'thank you' because the officers that do good don't often get the recognition," Boyd said. "We hear a lot of bad things and when I saw him I wanted to say what can we do so my dad can actually meet the officers who was there to resuscitate him. And I wanted to thank you so much. I see y'all back there," she said.
The family hopes to meet with the officers again down the road once the whole Little family is in town as they all want to express their gratitude.
Boyd says they have some personal gifts they'd like to give them in addition to the special award from the police depart
