Ryder Lockwood was with his mother and two other siblings when their car traversing Highway 198 in Visalia, Miami suddenly veered off and hit a tree, causing it to overturn.
The infant’s mother, Brittany Lockwood, was trying to help his older brother, Preston, 5, escape from the car and was trying to free his sister, Aubreanna, 2, from her car seat when a man walked up to the vehicle.
That man identified himself as Tony Calvillo who said he saw the vehicle veer off the highway with the mother and her three children inside. He called 911 and approached the scene, the report said.
He then helped 5-year-old Preston crawl out of the wreck before using a hunting knife he had purchased earlier that day to shatter a window and pull Ryder out of the back seat. But Ryder stopped crying and turned cold and stiff.
Calvillo, a volunteer pilot for the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue Team, knew then and there that Ryder was dead. He tried to revive him using his right hand to start light compressions on the baby’s chest.
After about 30 seconds of chest compressions, Ryder came back to life.
Mike Spicer, a retired California Highway Patrol (CHP) Officer, meanwhile, was listening to a sermon about people possessed by the Holy Spirit while he was driving his truck on Highway 198. He stopped his truck when he noticed an overturned vehicle that had struck a tree.
When he approached the wreck, Calvillo handed him Ryder, who became motionless again.
The 61-year-old Hanford man had seen many dead bodies over 27 years in the CHP. He was sure the infant was gone. He laid Ryder in his truck and started light compressions on the baby’s chest.
As he laid 8-month-old Ryder Lockwood on the passenger seat of his truck to start CPR, he said a prayer to God.
The sermon continued as he worked to save Ryder’s life.
Within a minute, Ryder started to moan and open his eyes. Then Ryder cried – music to Spicer’s ears. Before Ryder was taken to the hospital, he was smiling and laughing.
Doctors told the family Ryder is healthy and had no complications from the accident. The others involved in the crash – Ryder’s mother, Brittany Lockwood, and two young siblings – only received some scratches and bruises.
“That was unbelievable and a miracle,” Spicer says.
Even more miraculous: Ryder died once before Spicer arrived on the scene.
Source: The Fresno Bee, California Highway Patrol / Photo credit: The Fresno Bee
