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Good Samaritan, quick thinking save baby on Miami expressway

The aunt of a 5-month-old baby who stopped breathing was helped by strangers and police officers Thursday, who performed CPR and helped to start the baby's breathing again.

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Al Diaz/Miami Herald/AP
Sweetwater officer Amauris Bastidas keeps a watchful eye waiting for paramedics after aiding a five-month-old Sebastian de la Cruz who stopped breathing. The baby's aunt performed CPR after pulling her SUV over on the side of the road along the west bound lane on Florida state road 836 just east of 57th Avenue around 2:30 pm on Thursday, Feb. 20.
  • By APNewsNow Associated Press

Drivers stuck in traffic on a Miami expressway on Thursday rushed to help a woman who got out of her car, holding a baby, and screaming for help.

Pamela Rauseo's nephew, 5-month-old Sebastian de la Cruz, wasn't breathing. The boy was born prematurely and has respiratory issues.

The Miami Herald reports Lucila Godoy arrived first and helped perform CPR. Sweetwater police officer Amauris Bastidas took over the procedure when he arrived, while Ms. Rauseo breathed into the infant's mouth.

The baby briefly started breathing, then stopped again. The boy's aunt, the police officer, and the passerby worked frantically to get the baby to breathe. Miami Fire Rescue arrived soon after and took the baby to a hospital. According to the Los Angeles Times, the baby was listed Friday in critical, but stable, condition.

The story has a happy ending for everyone, including those who witnessed the life-saving efforts as they unfolded in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Al Diaz, a photographer for the Miami Herald, captured the rescue on film.

Infant CPR is considered easy to learn and use. 

Good Samaritans come in all ages and can be found around the country. In March of 2013, two young boys in Marietta, Ga., saved a 12-week-old baby who stopped breathing at home, according to the New York Daily News. According to the report, when the baby's mother, Susanna Rohm, rushed outside with her infant to yell for help, two boys – nine-year-old Rocky Hurt and 10-year-old Ethan Wilson – stepped in, using CPR skills they had learned from reading a CPR poster on the wall of their elementary school.

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