A McDonald’s employee was working the drive-thru window when something caught him off guard. As he went to hand a customer their order, he heard the screams of two young children and immediately knew something was wrong. That’s when he dove out the window, and it was all caught on camera.
Pedro Valia, a 22-year-old McDonald’s employee, was working the drive-thru window during the breakfast shift in Dorl, Florida, when a routine order turned into an emergency. A drive-thru customer had placed her order and paid without a problem, but when she moved up to Valia’s window to collect her food with her two kids in the back seat, the employee quickly realized something was wrong.
As the unnamed woman’s vehicle approached Valia’s window, she didn’t stop. Instead, her car continued rolling through the parking lot, and that’s about the time the McDonald’s employee heard the woman’s children crying and pleading with their mother. Her kids were in the back screaming, “Mother, mother, stop it! What are you doing?” Valoria recalled, according to Inside Edition.
As the vehicle continued moving, it became clear to the McDonald’s employee that the driver no longer had control. Not only was she making jerking movements, which apparently caused her foot to slip from the brake, but her respirations also seemed abnormal, and her children were terrified. “I see she’s hardly breathing, and I thought, that’s not normal,” Valoria said, recalling the moment he realized the woman was having a medical emergency. “Her kids were screaming,” he added, according to NBC Miami. “I thought, I got to get to that car.”
With her children crying out in the back seat, Valoria knew he had to do something, so he did the only thing he could. He leaped from the drive-thru window and rushed to help the woman, as a surveillance camera from inside the restaurant captured footage of his heroic efforts. Little did he know, however, who he was about to rescue.
As seen in the footage, Pedro Valoria wasted no time jumping out the window to save the woman, who just so happened to be an off-duty police officer. After leaping out the drive-thru, Valoria chased after the car before throwing himself in front of it in hopes of stopping it, even if it might endanger his own life. “I thought if these kids lose their mother today, it would have been tragic. If I would have had to die to save that woman, I would have done it,” Valoria said, explaining his bravery. “My brain was on hero mode,” he added. “I ran as fast as I could, put myself in front of the car.”
Meanwhile, an off-duty fire rescue officer, who was inside the restaurant lobby at the time of the incident, also rushed to help. Luckily, the curb stopped the vehicle from going into traffic, giving Valoria and the other bystanders time to render aid. A second employee, who asked not to be identified, came to assist as well, helping to administer CPR. “When I looked back, there were all these rescue workers,” Valoria said. “I was with the kids. I was trying to tell them it will be all right. The kids were breaking my soul.”
Both employees received praise from the McDonald’s owner. “He is an excellent employee, so it didn’t surprise me that he took immediate action and jumped through a window to help save this woman,” Alex Menendez said while speaking of Pedro Valoria. “Their quick thinking and action were everything in that moment,” he added, referring to the second employee who assisted with CPR.
Thankfully, the brave onlookers’ heroism seemingly worked, as the woman, only identified as an off-duty police officer, was rushed to a nearby hospital where she was reportedly being treated. In the days after the incident, “She’s alive, and that’s enough,” Valoria said before reiterating, “If I had to die to save that woman, I would have,” and for that, he deserves applause. It’s easy to say you’d risk your life to save a complete stranger; it’s another thing entirely to jump out a window and throw yourself in front of a moving car. So, job well done, sir.
