Officer, choking victim reunite in Redondo Beach
Sumeera Gandhi hugs Redondo Beach Police Officer Mike Dyberg. It was the first time the two met since he saved her life as she choked in late June. Photo
Last Thursday, a Redondo Beach police officer with a reputation for being in the right place at the right time, met with a woman whose life he saved. This time, the meeting was under far happier circumstances.
On the evening of July 29 at a Panera Bread restaurant in Redondo Beach, the Gandhi family had begun dinner. Sumeera and Arun Gandhi were in town from India, as part of their annual visit to their sons and their families, who now live in California.
Sumeera took a bite, and almost immediately rocked back; a piece of bread had lodged in her windpipe, and she began choking. The family began panicking, patting her on the back – which, as Arun later read, may do more harm than good.
“But my daughter-in-law showed tremendous presence of mind,” Arun said. “We were all paralyzed, and she just picked up the phone and called 911.”
On the north end of that parking lot, RBPD Officer Mike Dyberg had responded to a theft call at the South Bay Galleria and was waiting for a suspect to exit through the parking lot to make his arrest when the rescue call came over the radio.
He realized that he was across the parking lot, and was in and out of his car in a matter of seconds. By then, it had been about two minutes. Sumeera’s eyes had rolled back, and she was an alarming shade of purple. Dyberg jumped in to perform the Heimlich maneuver, thrusting his hands into her abdomen and forcing the bread out.
She gasped, filling Dyberg with relief, and as they waited for paramedics to arrive, the officer held her.
“Paramedics transported her after that, but one of the firemen told him that if he hadn’t been there, she might have died,” said RBPD Capt. Jon Naylor.
Days before the Gandhi family were to return home from their holiday in Redondo, they visited RBPD to thank Dyberg.
“I think of you every morning when I wake up,” Sumeera said after greeting him with an embrace.
Dyberg was quietly thankful to the family and the gift they brought him. But RBPD Chief Keith Kauffman didn’t hold back on his praise.
“We’re super proud,” Kauffman said. “He always has a knack for being in the right place at the right time.”
Dyberg’s luck is storied. He has multiple department-awarded life-saving medals from his 23 years with RBPD. He was also among the five RBPD officers present for the October mass shooting in Las Vegas, where he helped to triage and treat wounded concertgoers.
“Maybe this is why God put him here,” Sumeera said.