Beverly Hills security guard recounts the dramatic moment he stepped in to save a choking child

Two Los Angeles security guards working at a Beverly Hills gas station have been praised for their quick thinking after stepping in to save the life of a choking baby.

Niko Nesbeth, a Marine veteran, and his partner Joey Madrigal were working at the 76 gas station on the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Crescent Drive in the morning of May 26.

A person rushed in to grab some water to help the infant, and said that a mother needed help: the panic-stricken mom was seen on surveillance camera footage yelling: ‘Who’s a doctor?’

Nesbeth sprang into action and ran out to help, while Madrigal radioed for medics.

The mother thrust her child into Nesbeth’s arms, and collapsed on the floor in hysterics as Nesbeth tapped the baby on the back to restore its breathing.

Niko Nesbeth said that he was happy he was on the scene and able to assist

‘She was very devastated,’ said Jose Peraza, an attendant at the gas station who helped console the mother.

He told KTLA: ‘He was dying, not breathing or anything. So, a couple of security guards, they helped her out.

‘My partner told the security guard to hit the little baby on the back.’

Nesbeth said he immediately realized the infant needed urgent attention.

‘The mother already throws the baby into my arms,’ said Nesbeth.

‘I notice looking at the baby’s face the baby was turning blue.

‘I could tell his colors were changing so I knew he was choking and wasn’t getting air.’

Madrigal had recently joined Covered 6 security, a private security company that also offers tactical training. 

He said he knew the priority was getting professional medical help.

‘One thing I’ve learned through training is that you’ve got to slow down time; and you’ve got to realize and just get all the facts and put it all together – because I was pretty much in charge of getting the rescue as fast as possible,’ he said.

Nesbeth said he was happy that he could help her, describing his being in the right place at the right time as ‘divine intervention’.

The infant was unharmed.

‘It was the best feeling to feel that way,’ he told Fox 11.

‘To assist a community – especially a little child – that’s amazing.’

The mother, in green, is seen sinking to the floor in hysterics as Nesbeth tends to the infant

Joey Madrigal was tasked with calling for immediate medical assistance for the baby

The pair said they believe it is ‘divine intervention’ that they were in the right place at the right time

Private security forces are nothing new on the streets of Beverly Hills. Covered Six has been recruited to patrol the affluent neighborhood since December 2021. The company works alongside the Beverly Hills Police Department. 

This came at at time when crime began to spike across Los Angeles. That month, Jacqueline Avant, 81, a philanthropist and the wife of music legend Clarence Avant, was also killed in a home invasion robbery and shooting.

The city’s crime spike dates back to widespread looting following Black Lives Matter protests on Rodeo Drive in the summer of 2020, that left some high-end stores with broken windows, according to the LA Magazine. 

Earlier this month, a homeless camp that mushroomed into a sea of tents neighboring Beverly Hills has finally been broken up after disgruntled residents complained for weeks that the tent-dwellers were using and selling drugs at the site.

Furious residents of the upscale enclave of Beverly Grove watched in horror as scores of homeless people set up camp on San Vicente Boulevard last month.

They have described how the tent-dwellers are fighting ‘all hours of the day’ while also using and selling drugs at the encampment.