Detectives Hear 911 Plea, Save Choking Baby : Woodland Hills: Infant had stopped breathing while being breast fed. Mother calls rescue a ‘miracle.’

It could have been a scene out of the television show “Rescue 911.”

New mother Angela Goodman had just finished breast feeding her 12-day-old baby, when she noticed that he had stopped breathing and was turning red.

“I started losing it,” Goodman, 29, said Wednesday after the incident unfolded in her Woodland Hills living room just before 1 p.m. “I kept saying to myself, ‘Stay calm,’ but I totally lost it.”

A hysterical Goodman called her pediatrician. When she was put on hold, she hung up and dialed 911.

An ambulance was dispatched, but two West Valley detectives on their way back from lunch overheard the call on their radio. Realizing they were nearby, they reached the house in the 20400 block of Califa Street in less than a minute.

When Detective Tony Fichen and his partner, Detective Bob Hart, arrived, seven-pound Zachary was red in the face.

“I was the first one in the house and the mom had the baby on (his) back,” said Fichen. “I took the baby and squeezed the stomach, kept (his) head back to keep the airway cleared and squeezed again.”

Zachary caught his breath, and jubilation filled the room.

“It was a miracle,” Goodman said as she held Zachary, clad only in diapers, close to her. “He came in here like a messenger of God and took over. It was wonderful.

“There is not enough praise I can give the officers,” Goodman said. “(Fichen) was as gentle as a lamb when he was handling the baby. He saved his life, and I am just so grateful.”

Fichen said saving the baby was relatively easy after he squeezed mucous out of the baby’s mouth, though the incident hit a nerve with the detective, who went on a similar call seven years ago as a Foothill Division patrolman.

“A long time ago, I lost a baby on the job,” said the 13-year LAPD veteran. “As soon as I heard the radio call, it all rushed back into my head.

“It made me feel real good, though,” he said. “Every day we usually deal with such depressing stuff. It is great to be able to really help someone.”

After the incident, Goodman and her husband Ken, 31, took Zachary to Tarzana Medical Center to be examined. Doctors told them Zachary was fine, and that the incident may have been caused by a spasm in the baby’s throat, which was agitated by the mixture of phlegm and breast milk.

“Whatever it was, I am never putting Zachary down,” Goodman said, “and thank God for 911.”