MILAN, NM – Village of Milan Hall employees received a voicemail from a mother who was wanting to thank Milan Police Department Sergeant Nikolas Candelaria for saving her infant daughter after she began choking while the mother was driving.
In the voicemail the mother said that her oneyear- old daughter began choking and she stopped her car to try and flag down help. She said Candelaria stopped to assist and dislodged what was causing her daughter to choke. She said that they called an ambulance and took her daughter to the hospital and her daughter is okay. She said, “I just want to thank [Candelaria] so much for everything he did for me, nobody would stop but he stopped. I just wanted to call and say thank you, I appreciate everything and there’s no way I could ever repay him.”
Human Resource Director and Payroll Clerk Sophenia Damron said, “We usually get the other side [of phone calls] people are angry or whatever. But to get [the voicemail from the mother] and to hear that our officers are doing this… It made me cry. I just wanted everyone to know, [officers] have a bad rap and ours are amazing.”
Candelaria went through what occurred, he said, “I was coming back into the Village and there was a lady at the west end of Corley’s. She was waving people down or trying to wave people down, so I stopped to check on her and when I got out, she said, ‘my baby’s choking!’ So, the baby was in the seat still and I grabbed the baby, a teething stick was lodged in the back of her throat, I was able to get it out and the baby started breathing and she was fine.” Candelaria said that these types of interactions make the job worth it. He said, “You can go a long period of time and just feel like you do the same thing or you’re just here for everybody else, but those voicemails are rewarding on why you do the job… It makes you realize and remember why you do it.”