By Bailey Aldridge
The News & Observer
BERKELEY COUNTY, SC — When a sheriff’s department deputy pulled over a car in South Carolina for speeding, the driver got out, yelling that a 12-day-old infant in the car had stopped breathing.
The mom said the baby was drinking a bottle and then stopped breathing, according to the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputy William Kimbro’s body cam footage from June 11 shows him taking the limp baby from her mother and performing first aid to save her during a traffic stop in the Summerville area.
The deputy can be heard in the video saying “come on baby, cry for me, cry for me. Come on, open those eyes for me sweetheart.”
The baby then lets out a faint cry. The deputy reassures the mother: “As long as she’s crying like that, she’s breathing.”
However, in the body cam video, the deputy expresses concern for the infant’s circulation since he says, “her lips are a little blue.”
“I’m worried about her,” Kimbro says to the mother. “I think she’s going to be okay. She’s breathing.”
After about five minutes, EMS arrived to continue to treat the infant. “She’s breathing. She’s got a pulse,” Kimbro tells paramedics.
“I didn’t feel a heartbeat earlier so I started massaging her heart,” he also says. “Now I feel it. It’s really strong now.”
Kimbro was awarded the “Life-saving Medal,” the sheriff’s office said.
©2019 The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)