A hero cop trying to catch speeding motorists managed to save a little life in a Bronx apartment Tuesday morning when he raced to a nearby building to revive a 2-month-old girl who had stopped breathing.
Officer Johnny Castillo, 38, was working on Mayor de Blasio’s “Vision Zero” speeding initiative at 11:40 a.m. near East 196th Street and the Grand Concourse when word of the unconscious baby came over his radio.
Castillo, a four-year NYPD veteran and decorated Army Ranger, threw down his radar gun and rushed to the nearby sixth-floor apartment, where he found little Adelyn Peña-Fernandez passed out on a table.
The baby’s parents, Sheila Peña and Victor Colon, were desperately waiting for first responders when Castillo rushed in.
“The baby was blue, not breathing, unconscious,” Castillo recalled. “[The parents] were scared. They were really nervous.”
Castillo kept his cool and applied four light chest compressions to the infant, who began to breathe on her own again and smiled up at the hero cop, authorities said.
EMS workers arrived a short time later and rushed Adelyn to Montefiore Medical Center, where she was listed in stable condition.
Castillo, a former Army sniper who served two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, said, “Nothing that I’ve ever done in my life, in my military career or on this job can compare to what happened to me today.”
He’s no stranger to life-and-death situations.
During one of his military tours, an armored vehicle in which he was traveling was hit by a roadside bomb in Baghdad, according to the NYPD.
Castillo was awarded two Purple Hearts and during his military career personally received a citation from President George W. Bush.
NYPD brass, including Commissioner Bill Bratton. hailed Castillo for his grace under pressure.
“Another true hero!” Bratton tweeted. “Proud of PO Castillo’s quick actions saving a baby who had stopped breathing.”
The captain of the 52nd Precinct where Castillo works saluted the cop as a lifesaver.
“Everything was just automatic,” Capt. Linda Rock-Wright said of her colleague’s quick actions. “I want the world to know our officers are working hard out there every day and saving babies.”
Castillo said Tuesday’s heroics came naturally to him as a married father of five.
“I felt like it was my kid,” he said. “I just told myself, ‘Don’t be nervous. Don’t be scared. Just take care of this little girl.’ ”