The Springfield Police Department in Massachusetts released body-camera footage of an officer saving the life of a 3-month-old baby.
On April 20, a woman in the city’s Mason Square neighborhood called 911 at 11 a.m. after her child had stopped breathing, Springfield Police spokesman Ryan Walsh said in a statement.
According to the statement, the child’s mother “did everything she could have during this situation,” including attempting CPR on the child herself before the police arrived.
When officers got to the home, Walsh said, “The baby was motionless and his skin appeared to be blue in color.”
The officers quickly took over life-saving measures. Officer Josue Cruz began performing CPR on the child while officers Luis Delgado and Francisco Luna provided oxygen and support, the statement said.
The baby regained consciousness and began to breathe on his own after about three minutes of CPR, the statement said. “These officers performed admirably in an incredibly stressful situation. I am so proud of them knowing that their actions helped prevent a tragedy and credit to Mom, who did everything right.”
In the body-cam footage, Cruz is shown pressing his thumbs on the baby’s chest. After about a minute, Cruz checks the baby’s pulse and notes that he is “breathing a little.”
“Come on little buddy,” Cruz pleaded as he continued CPR.
About a minute later, one of the other officers places an oxygen mask over the baby’s face. Once the baby begins to breathe more, Cruz flips him over and pats the baby’s back to clear up something that was clogging his throat.
At around the 3:40 mark of the video, the baby begins to cry.
“He’s responsive now,” Cruz said. “Cry it out.”
The mother and baby were taken to Baystate’s Pediatric Unit for further medical treatment. During a follow-up, the mother told officers that the baby was doing well.
Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno shared that he had visited the child and mother and was happy that the baby had recovered.
“God Bless,” Sarno said in a statement. “First of all, I am very happy that mom and baby are doing well; it was good to see them and see how healthy both were doing. Such a beautiful child and loving mother who has been through so much, I am so relieved that our brave and dedicated officers were able to respond in time and utilize their training to save the life of this precious child.”
Sarno also congratulated the officers on their “simply tremendous” life-saving efforts.
“They were so calm, cool, and collected,” he said. “Sometimes people forget that our police officers are not only brave, compassionate but also, sentinels of peacemaking for a better and healthier community. God Bless and good health to both mom and child and Godspeed to these three Officers and all of our SPD.”
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