Local cop branded a hero

Giovanni Zampini, an acting sergeant at Station 4, was modest as his commander Pierre Gauvin praised his solid work. "He's really a hero," Gauvin said, mentioning Zampini was also a very hard worker.

That could be the one thing Zampini and his commander disagree on. "I'm not a hero," he told <@Ri>The Chronicle<@$P> multiple times in an interview during which he recalled the intense morning of April 18.

Zampini, who had set out to patrol early in the morning, intercepted a 911 call on the scanner, hearing a mother's screams about her daughter. "It's always a procedure that it's a car with two cops that answers," Zampini explained, particularly since the nature of the call was absolutely unclear. However, something about the urgency of the woman's voice, and hearing about her daughter being in a swimming pool, prompted the officer of eight years to forego procedure. "I was maybe 500 metres away," he said, recalling how lucky he was to be so close to the home in question.

Bursting into the home, Zampini saw a two year-old girl lying lifeless on the floor, her father trying desperately to resuscitate her as her mother remained on the phone with 911.

For about half a second, Zampini thought he had arrived too late. "Then, everything I learned in police academy came back," he said.

Getting on his knees, Zampini proceeded to feel the child's mouth and unclog it.

By the time he was done, first aid workers from the fire department had shown up, followed by paramedics from Urgences-Santé.

The officer learned later on that hospital doctors said his actions had saved her life. "She couldn't die," he recalled was the only thought going through his mind throughout the procedure. Having nephews and a niece of his own, he said, he kept picturing them in her stead.

And though Zampini argued vehemently that he was not a hero, that everyone involved in the incident, from the girl's parents to the first aiders and paramedics, deserved credit, in November his actions were rewarded with a Quebec Police Award.