Heart-Stopping Rescue Captured on Bodycam as Culver City Officers Save Choking Boy

Five-year-old Kevin couldn't be more excited to reunite with the officers who saved his life.

In an emotional video that has most holding their breath as they watch it, body cameras worn by Culver City police officers captured the night they arrived at Kevin's home and found his mother holding him, not breathing.

"He died in my arms," Rosa Hernandez, Kevin's mother, said.

She wept again Thursday at the thought of holding her son's lifeless body in her arms that evening July 22, 2019.

Hernandez said she called 911 when she thought Kevin might be choking.

Culver City police officers Patricia Banda and Brandon Simon answered the call.

They raced into the apartment and saw a bone-chilling sight: a hysterical mother holding a child who was not breathing.

"Our biggest issue was having her release child," Officer Banda said.

Hernandez was crying uncontrollably as she handed her son's limp body over to the officers.

After forceful back thrusts inside the home, and no response from the boy, they rushed outside.

"Based on his frame it was easier to turn him over face down," Banda said. "The second I heard him cry -- I was like, thank god."

The officers got him breathing before paramedics arrived. It still isn't clear what Kevin choked on, because the officers didn't see an object pop out of his mouth during the back thrusts. He was taken to the hospital as a precaution, and is going to be just fine.

The Culver City Council honored the two officers during Monday's meeting with the family.

Kevin got to give his heroes even more hugs as they reunited outside the police station Thursday night.

Hernandez said it's still too difficult for her to watch the bodycam footage. She said she's just grateful to the officers for saving her son's life.

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