Off-Duty Gwinnett Police Officer Mondesir and a Nurse Team Up to Perform CPR, Saving a Toddler

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A Gwinnett County Police officer and an off-duty nurse are being hailed as heroes after body camera video captured the moment they performed CPR on a toddler who had stopped breathing, saving the child’s life.

Officer Mondesir was seen on body cam footage in a hard-to-watch scene. 

On Aug. 17, Mondesir was parked and working on a report from an earlier call when someone approached him, letting him know that a toddler wasn’t breathing. 

Police said the officer did not hesitate and ran to help.

Bodycam footage showed a group of people surrounding the toddler when Mondesir took the 18-month-old into his arms and began CPR for seven minutes.

Off-duty nurse, Nicole Goodwell, also acted “quickly and bravely,” stepping in to save the child. Goodwell was driving when she saw the scene and pulled over to help. Officer Mondesir had started CPR when Goodwell jumped in to help. 

The child was taken to the hospital, where he survived. The toddler might have been having an allergic reaction. 

After saving the child, Mondesir appeared to be shaken up in the body cam footage. 

“I didn’t expect that… I didn’t expect that to take a toll like that,” the officer said. 

It’s not the first time Mondesir swooped in to help someone.  Mondesir won the lifesaving award in 2022 for applying a tourniquet to a woman’s leg after she was hit by a car, saving her leg and her life. 

The doctor who treated the toddler credited the quick response from the officers and the nurse for saving the child.

The Gwinnett County Police Department said in a social media post that “their actions exemplify the essence of being a first responder.”

You can watch part of the heroic scene play out below