AMSTERDAM, N.Y. -- It was about 12:30 on the morning of July 4. Amsterdam Police Officer Keelan Zyzes was at the intersection of Church Street and West Main Street when he saw a car run a red light.

He followed the car and turned on his emergency lights, but the driver would not stop.

"There are many, many scenarios that could play out. You expect the worst," Zyzes said.

With a pursuit appearing to be underway, Zyzes called over to Officer Eduardo Ortiz to assist. The driver was heading toward the end of West Main Street, where Ortiz used his car to block the road.

"We're expecting the worst," Ortiz said. "We're expecting somebody running from us because it was something serious."

Turns out it was serious, but nothing these two veteran police officers had ever seen before. A man got out of the car with an infant in his arms. He told the officers his six-week-old daughter was choking and not breathing.

The officers immediately went to work. Zyzes began performing CPR on the child, while Ortiz called for EMS. After several chest compressions, the infant vomited and was breathing again.

"We're out of the car after the pursuit had ended. It was literally a minute, tops, before we were on our way to the hospital," Zyzes said.

The child was evaulated at the hospital and released. Later in the day, the family ran into the officers and thanked them for saving the six-week-old's life.

On Friday, Eastern Med, which provides CPR and AED training to the Amsterdam police department, honored Zyzes and Ortiz with their Heart Hero Award for their actions that morning.

"I'm thrilled that my guys keep up on their training and put it into practice, rather than learn it and do the classroom exercises," said Amsterdam Police Chief Greg Culick. "This time they actually got to put it into practice and saved a life."