NEWARK, N.J. — A Transportation Security Administration officer is credited with saving the life of a 2-month-old baby after his mother realized that he wasn’t breathing at Newark Liberty International Airport.
Officer Cecilia Morales said her training and 10 years of experience as an emergency medical technician kicked in when she heard people screaming for help, according to a news release issued Thursday by TSA officials. A woman had picked up her two-month-old son from his car carrier seat to take him through a security checkpoint at the airport when she realized he wasn’t breathing, officials said.
Morales said she yelled instructions to the woman “but she was so nervous, and I knew if I didn’t get over there, it wasn’t going to be a good outcome.”
Video released by the TSA showed Morales jumping over the checkpoint conveyor belt to help the woman. She performed the infant Heimlich maneuver on him and carefully held him to keep his airway open. Placing him down on her arm, she patted him on the back – though the baby did not respond. When she tried again, he started to breathe, officials said.
JUST IN: @TSA officer, a former EMT, hailed as a hero after she jumped over a checkpoint conveyor belt to perform Heimlich on an infant who stopped breathing at @EWRairport checkpoint, saving the baby’s life. #TSAHolidayMiracle. The news release: https://t.co/J1yuT05ysw pic.twitter.com/3NfRD7lvPh
— Lisa Farbstein, TSA Spokesperson (@TSA_Northeast) December 23, 2021
A short while later, a pediatric EMT arrived to give the baby oxygen.
Morales, who joined the TSA in October, said the incident was the first in which she had performed the Heimlich maneuver on an infant. She credited her training and experience for her ability to get the boy breathing again.
“I saw the video afterward,” she said. “It was the first time I’ve ever seen myself in action, saving a life. It was mind-blowing to watch.”
Morales said she’d previously performed the Heimlich maneuver on adults and children during her time as an EMT in several towns in northern New Jersey.
Thomas Carter, TSA’s federal security director for New Jersey, on Thursday called Morales’ instinctive reaction to the incident “inspiring.”
“Two months on the job and she’s literally a life-saver,” Carter said in a statement. “Officer Morales’s quick reaction and actions helped ensure that this family will have a happy holiday season.”
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