High speed chase ends with officers saving infant’s life on side of Amsterdam road

AMSTERDAM, NY (WRGB) It started with a high speed chase, and ended with a child saved.

Tonight two Amsterdam police officers are being honored for how they responded when they found an infant in a deadly situation.

Because of what happened, they're now urging parents to get a specific training.

“I thought the worst of the worst when I heard this, because I heard screaming on the radios,” said Police Chief Gregory Culick.

Amsterdam police were following a car that wouldn’t stop, and they thought the people inside might be criminals.

“We expected somebody to run from us, for something serious, so we drew out our weapons,” said Officer Eduardo Ortiz.

But officers Keelan Zyzes and Eduardo Ortiz quickly realized the people they finally stopped on West Main Street posed no threat, they needed help themselves.

“The male front passenger of the vehicle immediately exited the vehicle with a small child. The child was his 6-week old daughter who wasn’t breathing,” Chief Culick said.

And there on the side of the road, the officers took action.

“He put the child on the hood of the vehicle and started infant CPR. After several chest compression the infant started vomiting and moving around,” Chief Culick said.

Friday the officers were given the Heart Hero Award from Eastern Med, LLC for administering CPR and getting the baby off to a hospital within one minute. Because of their actions the child survived.

“I encourage everyone to get CPR training, the training was still fresh in my mind,” Officer Zyzes said.

Officers Zyzes says he has been getting re-certified in CPR since he was 18, and had just had a training within the year before saving the baby on July 4th.

Officer Ortiz created a roadblock to stop the family from continuing, which played another major role in saving the child's life.