CABARRUS COUNTY, N.C. — A 10-month-old boy in Salisbury is alive thanks to the heroic efforts of a North Carolina State Highway Patrol trooper, and the quick actions of the boy’s father.
Salisbury Police Department Officer Alberto Cambray was getting ready to work his night shift when it all started. He shared what happened in an exclusive interview with Channel 9’s Hannah Goetz.
“She yelled, ‘He’s choking!’ I get out of the bathroom, out the shower, and I see that he’s gagging,” Cambray said. “He’s sounding worse by the second, he’s sounding worse -- when she yells at me she’s like, ‘Hey, he’s bleeding!’ I’m like, ‘OK,’ I throw on my shorts, grab my patrol car keys.”
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Cambray quickly put his son, Malakai, into the patrol car.
“Seconds matter in any case, I mean, whether it’s a baby or a grown man, if they’re choking, any little bit matters, time matters,” Cambray said. “So we get in my car, running lights and sirens to the hospital.”
Channel 9 obtained the 911 dispatch traffic showing when Cambray got on the radio.
“Can you inform Atrium hospital Concord I will be bringing a 10-month-old choking, ETA about five minutes out,” Cambray said.
Officers are trained to save lives, but on that radio call to Rowan 911, he wasn’t just Officer Cambray, he was Malakai’s dad.
“For a split second, I hate to say it, but the worst thought came to my head. We went from planning a [birthday] party to possibly planning a funeral,” Cambray said.
As he pulled into the emergency department with Malakai still choking, North Carolina State Highway Patrol Trooper Blake Thompson happened to be leaving.
“I was finishing up my collision investigation at Atrium Northeast ... and I saw a Salisbury police officer coming into the emergency waiting room, lights and sirens,” Thompson told Goetz. “You think of the worst, and it was the worst. I ran in behind him.”
While the frantic father yelled for a doctor, Thompson knew there was no time to waste.
“This is when seconds matter. So that’s when I grabbed a little boy and started CPR,” Thompson said.
“Next thing I know, I just see somebody with a gray shirt --couldn’t even get a good glimpse of him, I just knew he had a gray shirt-- next thing I know, he has my son and he’s doing whatever he can do, back blows, CPR, whatever he’s trained to do to get him to cry,” Cambray said. “He was still at that time, he was gasping, he wasn’t crying, he wasn’t breathing. Next thing I know, he’s crying.”
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Malakai’s mother is still in awe.
“I can’t imagine my life without him,” said Evelyn Almazan. “Thank you so much for doing what you did.”
It’s a second chance at life for Malakai, and a reunion filled with gratitude and proper introductions.
“He’s so cute, I’m very thankful to be there at the right time for that situation,” Thompson said. “Honestly, I am very glad that I was there, there’s really no other way to put it.”
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