NEW ORLEANS — A young girl is back home tonight, after spending months in the hospital from gun violence that nearly took her life.
She was saved by the quick action and military training of a New Orleans police officer.
Thursday he got his wish, to be reunited with the little girl he thought he may never see again.
It was November 2 when there was another senseless shooting with another innocent bystander struck. This time it was a seven-year-old child. Just days after the crime, Fifth District NOPD officer, Daniel McCreary, told us how, a little black bag that is an emergency kit that his wife gave him for Christmas, along with his U.S. Army training and service, helped him save the life of the little girl dying in the street.
"She asked me if she was going to die when I first got there. I told her, 'No.' It wasn't that bad, and she was going to be ok," said NOPD officer Daniel McCreary in November 2020.
Deep down he knew she was in grave danger, but he told us then if she survives, he wanted to meet her.
Today officer McCreary's wish was about to come true.
“Excited and nervous. The last time I saw her she was getting in an ambulance and I didn't know if she was going to make it,” he remembers.
After more than three months in critical care and rehab, Chlo'ee Williams got to leave her bed at Children's Hospital and go home to her own.
Outside waiting, her dedicated medical team, members of NOPD, and of course Officer McCreary, cheered and clapped with presents and balloons in hand as she came out.
“You remember this officer?” Chlo’ee’s mother Leronisha Williams asked?
“Hey, remember me?” McCreary asked. “Hi. How are you?”
“Good,” responded Chlo’ee, as they slap each other’s hand.
He gave her a pink unicorn stuffed animal. She gave him a trophy for being a number one officer.
“Can you give it to him and tell him how you feel about him saving your life?” asked Leronisha.
“Good,” said Chlo’ee.
“Thank you so much,” said McCreary.
“I was just like real appreciative that he save my baby life. Yeah and that we couldn't wait to meet him,” said Leronisha.
When Chlo’ee hears her mother’s words she snapped, “I'm not a baby yet.”
“You are a baby,” her mother quipped back.
With that comment, and when her mom Leronisha tells her how much she's missed her, it doesn't take long to see that Chlo'ee's strong will to live is matched by a strong will.
“I be going crazy girl without you,” said Leronisha.
“What?” asked Chlo’ee.
“I be going crazy without you, but thanks to...,” Leronisha continued.
Chlo’ee interrupted and made everyone laugh as she said, “You already crazy.”
The person who chose to pull the trigger took away Chlo'ee's ability to walk. One of the bullets hit her spinal cord, but it could not take way her spirit to thrive.
“She's been really positive. She's been really focused on trying to get better, and trying to do more for herself,” explained Todd Danos, the Senior Director of Rehabilitation Services at Children’s Hospital.
“I mean I feel real confident now because the nurses they taught me like what to do. I got to be strong for my kids. I have two kids, so I have to make sure I'm still strong,” said Leronisha about having to tend to her daughter’s new needs in a wheelchair.
But Chlo’ee took issue, wanting to make it clear that the strength comes from her. “No, it comes from me.”
“Oh, OK, it comes from her,” her mother agreed.
As Officer McCreary leaves, tearing up with emotion because he was happy to see Chlo'ee in such positive spirits, her mother reassured everyone about the road ahead and difficulties.
“I feel confident. We alright. We gonna be good,” she told everyone around her.
Chlo'ee said the first thing she wants to do now that she is finally out of the hospital, is to go shopping and spend her mother's money.
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