TSA Agent Saves Baby With Leap Over Conveyor Belt

New hire Cecelia Morales stops infant from choking
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Dec 24, 2021 9:42 AM CST

A security officer leapt over conveyor belt rollers and saved a 2-month-old boy who stopped breathing at a security checkpoint at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, newly released video shows. The footage, released Thursday by the US Transportation Security Administration, shows TSA officer Cecilia Morales springing into action to resuscitate the child Dec. 9 after his mother picked him up from a car carrier and noticed he wasn’t breathing. "I knew if I didn't get over there, it wasn't going to be a good outcome," Morales said, per NBC4.

"I jumped over the checkpoint conveyor belt rollers and she gave me the baby. I performed the infant Heimlich maneuver on him." Morales, an EMT who the AP reports has been a TSA officer for about two months, said she placed the baby face down on her arm and patted him on the back to get him breathing again. It was the first time she had performed the technique on an infant, she said. A pediatric EMT arrived a short time later to give the baby oxygen. “I saw the video afterward,” Morales said. “It was the first time I’ve ever seen myself in action, saving a life. It was mind-blowing to watch. I felt that my training and experience just took over.”

“Two months on the job and she’s literally a life-saver,” Thomas Carter, the TSA’s Federal Security Director for New Jersey said in a statement. “Officer Morales’s quick reaction and actions helped ensure that this family will have a happy holiday season. Her actions were inspiring.” (More uplifting news stories.)

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