MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla.--- The three Miami-Dade police officers were beaming not just because they were being recognized, but because they played a role in saving a man's life.
Vladimir "Bobby" Ruiz is at a hospital recovering from what relatives say was a heart attack and that's the good news, because if it weren't for three officers, Vladimir may not even be alive today. He thanked them for that via a video message from his hospital bed.
Ruiz's family, the director of the MDPD and about two dozen others got together at Miami-Dade Police headquarters Thursday morning to honor Beatriz Martinez, Jose Martinez, and Miguel Siverio.
Two weeks ago Vladimir collapsed while he rode through Amelia Earhart Park. Beatriz, the 911 operator, gave Vladimir's friends detailed instructions over the phone on how to give him CPR, while the other two officers rushed to him.
They applied the automated external defibrillator, also known as the A.E.D. and regained a pulse. The officers seemed as grateful to the department as the department and community are to them.
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"I'm very proud to say I'm an officer and I've received the proper training and equipment from the department and this is what we signed up for to save lives... I'm getting a little choked up... either on the job or not on the job... we do this 24 hours. thank you very much," Siverio said.
One of the officers was moved as he mentioned that when he visited Vladimir at the hospital, the man said to him that he wanted his first bike ride when he recovered to be with the officer.