STAMFORD -- His bosses agree: Chris Broems is a man of action.
When the Stamford police officer heard a commotion in the back of a Summer Street movie theater this past November, he ran to scene and found a young girl blue from lack of oxygen.
Four months after the incident, Broems, a decorated member of the Stamford Police Department's narcotics and organized crime squad and 13-year veteran of the force, is to receive an award from the Police Commissioners Association of Connecticut for his actions. On Nov. 6, Broems helped the 3-year-old girl regain consciousness and begin breathing again inside the Bow Tie Majestic 6 on Summer Street while he was off duty and with his own children.
The girl's mother, Kathy Bivona, a 42-year-old nurse at the Tully Health Center in Stamford, said Broems and another father provided composure at a chaotic scene outside the theater and helped the girl begin breathing again. At first, she thought her daughter, Julia, was choking on a bottle cap, but emergency room staff later told her the girl had a spasm of the vocal cords that temporarily blocked breathing.
"As far as I am concerned, he did save her life," Bivona said. "There were other people who were nuts and could have hurt her. He remained calm and collected."
Broems is receiving the Meritorious Service Award for his actions. The police commissioners association will present him with the award Wednesday during a meeting in Wallingford.
"It's a great award, but I was just happy I had the training to be able to do something," Broems said. "I was there. I just acted. I really didn't think about it."
Broems, the department's 2007 Officer of the Year, said he was watching a movie with his daughter when he heard a woman screaming. He grabbed his daughter and ran to the commotion, finding another man holding the girl, who was not breathing. He took her into his arms and tried to dislodge an object thought to be blocking her airways by striking her back.
The girl regained consciousness before firefighters and paramedics arrived. Bivona, a former emergency room nurse, said seeing her daughter struggle to breathe was enough to paralyze her.
"If it wasn't for them, I couldn't function," Bivona said of Broems and the other Good Samaritan. "I was just hysterical. They just completely took control."
Supervisors at the Stamford Police Department called Broems quick-to-act and compassionate.
"That's just him," Stamford Police Capt. Richard Conklin said. "He's not the type of guy to sit in the background. It's not surprising he jumped right into action and helped that girl. That's part of his being."
Lt. Tim Shaw, the head of the narcotics and organized crime unit, said the award was well-deserved.
"He's one of the hardest working guys in the Police Department," Shaw said. "He runs full throttle."