MID-WILSHIRE : Child Escapes Harm, Thanks to an Angel

In a single moment, security guard Angel Zelaya earned his wings as a guardian angel. And now he has been officially recognized for the act of heroism that probably saved a toddler’s life.

Zelaya, 29, a security guard with Maxxum Security Co., works at First Lutheran Elementary School and Preschool at 6th Street and Shatto Place. On the morning of Sept. 30, he was watching the preschoolers play on the school grounds with Martha Perez-Cohen, the preschool’s director.

About 10:30 a.m., Perez-Cohen happened to see a youngster who had wandered out of a medical clinic at the school and was heading toward the traffic on busy 6th Street.

Afraid that her students would follow her if she ran toward the street, Perez-Cohen said she yelled to Zelaya and then “just prayed to God that (Zelaya) would get there before a car did.”

Zelaya turned and saw the boy, about 18 months old, as the toddler neared the curb.

“At that moment I don’t remember much,” Zelaya said. “I just started running. It was like someone was pushing me and saying, ‘Go for it.’ ”

Zelaya admits that he’s not the most nimble of men, but he leaped over a bush as he raced toward the child teetering on the curb.

“Later I wondered, ‘How could I jump that?,’ but it was like someone was pushing me. I had never run but I felt like Speedy Gonzalez,” Zelaya said. “I didn’t see anything. I just saw the kid. But I heard the cars hitting their brakes and skidding.”

After retrieving the child, Zelaya returned the boy to the clinic, where his mother had an appointment. No one had noticed that the boy had wandered off.

“At that moment I was angry,” he said. “I said to the nurse: ‘Why didn’t you watch the kid?’ But no one said anything.”

A shaken Zelaya left without learning the name of the boy or his mother. When he returned to the schoolyard, Perez-Cohen told him he was a hero. Zelaya just smiled.

Perez-Cohen said Zelaya is devoted to his job and the children he watches over: “He does a fantastic job. He’s more observant than some parents.”

Zelaya was honored at the school’s Christmas festivities Dec. 11 and presented with a certificate of commendation from Mayor Richard Riordan and the city. The certificate was presented by Kathleen Miller, one of the mayor’s area representatives and an alumna of the elementary school.

Zelaya also received an offer of a free class to expand his skills at the North Hollywood-based Security Training Center from its president, James D. Hein. Hein praised Zelaya for his swift, unselfish act.

Zelaya said he is so protective of the children that he will not allow an adult he does not know to pick up a child at the end of the day.

He always waits until the last child is picked up before he leaves for his home, just a few minutes from the school.

“I talk to the kids like a friend and they respect me. I love it here,” he said.

What does Zelaya think when people call him a hero?

“I’m embarrassed. That’s the first time in my life that I did something like that. When you’re scared you just do it.”