When an employee at a Miami-area McDonald’s saw a customer struggling to breathe Tuesday morning, he literally leapt into action -- right out the drive-thru window.
“I see she’s like inflating her neck, like trying to breathe,” Pedro Viloria told WPLG Local 10 News, an ABC News affiliate. “I immediately thought something was going wrong.”
Viloria had already taken the woman’s order at the Doral, Florida restaurant. When he returned with her breakfast, the woman suddenly lost consciousness, he said, her foot slipping off her SUV’s brake. Viloria saw two children in the back seat.
“I thought, ‘Oh my god, this woman’s unconscious! I got to do something because she’s going to crash,’” Viloria said.
As the SUV rolled forward, Viloria leapt out of the drive-thru window to try and stop the vehicle. Luckily, the SUV narrowly missed another car before hitting a curb and coming to a halt.
The incident was captured on the restaurant’s security cameras.
Fortunately, medical help was not far behind. Another customer in the drive-thru line, reported to be a paramedic, rushed to the woman’s assistance while a Miami-Dade Fire Rescue worker who had just walked into to the restaurant ran out to grab his partner. Together, they administered CPR and used an automated external defibrillator to revive the woman, who was soon hospitalized.
The woman, it turned out, is an off-duty Miami-Dade County police officer.
Viloria said that he didn’t think twice about leaving his post. And despite being hailed a hero, the fast-food worker remains modest.
“In that moment, I thought I’d rather save that woman’s life,” he said. “The real heroes are the Fire Rescues.”
With files from WPLG and The Associated Press
