Pedro Viloria was working the drive-thru window at the 113th Avenue McDonald’s in Doral Tuesday morning. He was in the process of serving breakfast to a woman and her children – a boy and girl – in her SUV when it happened. Viloria noticed something was wrong with the woman – she appeared to be having problems breathing. Her children also knew something was wrong. Viloria says he recalls them screaming, telling their mother to stop it and asking her what she was doing. A surveillance video at the McDonald’s outlet shows the SUV starting to move, as apparently, the driver’s foot had left the brake pedal.

CBS Miami reports that Viloria had no time to think – he immediately jumped through the McDonald’s drive-thru window and started chasing after the SUV and its occupants. Just as he arrived at the vehicle, it came to a stop against the curb in the driveway.

Viloria asked the children to immediately call 911 and just as the kids complied, a firefighter arrived on the scene. Initially, he was unaware of the situation but once the firefighter realized what was going on, he headed towards the SUV to find out what was happening. His partner also came to the rescue, along with an off-duty paramedic. It seemed like a matter of seconds went by before a fire rescue vehicle arrived at the McDonald’s.

Viloria kept the children calm

While this was all happening, Viloria stayed with the children, telling them everything was going to be OK. He told the media later that his first thought had been, if those children lost their mother that day, it would be tragic.

McDonald’s applauded their worker’s actions

Following the incident, McDonald’s released a statement to say their thoughts and prayers were with the Miami-Dade police officer and her family during what must be a difficult time. It went on to read that McDonald’s are very proud of Pedro for his actions during the incident, saying Viloria is an excellent employee and that it wasn’t surprising that he took immediate action to save the woman.

The McDonald's statement also mentioned that Viloria wasn’t alone, as a second employee – who prefers to not be named – used CPR on the stricken woman. The statement concluded that the quick thinking of both staff members was everything in that moment.

The police officer was immediately hospitalized and ABC News reports that Miami-Dade Detective Daniel Ferrin was asked about her condition, but he said no information was available at this time.
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