Off-Duty Paramedic Revives Child : Alhambra: On his way home from a 24-hour shift at the fire station, Mitchel Bray sees a boy fall from a pickup and get run over. His quick action to resuscitate the toddler earns a commendation.

It was lucky for one 18-month-old boy that Alhambra firefighter and paramedic Mitchel Bray had to stay late at work one day last week.

Otherwise, Bray would not have been driving on Woodward Avenue at the exact time on April 5 that the toddler fell from a pickup backing out of a driveway.

“I couldn’t believe it was happening,” said Bray, 26, the father of two boys.

At about 9 a.m., as Bray was heading home after a 24-hour shift at the fire station, he saw the boy fall from the tailgate of the truck. Bray honked his horn to alert the driver, the boy’s father, who was unaware of what was happening. Two other children were in the open bed of the truck, Bray said.

As the truck continued to back up, Bray got out of his car and tried to signal the father to stop. The truck’s rear wheels passed on either side of the boy, Bray said, but one of the front wheels rolled right on top of the youngster.

When the truck finally stopped, Bray said, the child was motionless and his face was a bluish purple.

As Bray performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, the boy began to cough, then cry.

A neighbor called 911 and paramedics took the toddler to a trauma center for treatment. Alhambra Police Capt. Al Solomon said the youngster’s father, Oscar Barajas Pita, 25, was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving but was released when a breath test showed his blood-alcohol level was not over the legal limit. Pita volunteered to give a blood test and police are waiting for the results.

Pita was not cited for violating the law against having children in the open bed of his truck, Solomon said. Because officers did not witness any wrongdoing, Bray would have to issue a statement to police indicating what he saw in order for the father to be cited. The captain said he did not know whether traffic officers are planning to pursue the issue. Police also did not have the boy’s name.

Bray, a Huntington Beach resident, will receive a commendation from the Alhambra City Council on April 24.

His wife, Tina, visited the toddler at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena two days after the incident. The baby looked fine except for a few cuts on his body, she said.

“(The baby’s) mother was really excited to hear I was the wife of the man who saved her son,” she said. Tina Bray, 27, said the mother knew almost no English--just enough to keep repeating the words, thank you .

Tina Bray said she wasn’t surprised to hear what her husband had done.

“My husband has always been very calm and controlled,” she said.

On the night of the rescue, she said, he slept with the couple’s 2-year-old son, Remington.