Hero cop performs CPR on baby moments from death: ‘Please don’t stop breathing’
A Tennessee police officer went above and beyond the call of duty after performing emergency CPR on a baby that was moments away from death, as seen in a dramatic viral video.
“Just don’t be the one to let this kid die, that’s what was going through my head,” hero officer Robert Baer told News Channel 5 of the incredible moment, which occurred on August 31 in Murfreesboro.
A 911 dispatcher had received a distressing call at around 2 a.m. from a frantic couple, who claimed that their one-year-old boy Zaire Brown wasn’t breathing.
The pair was reportedly en route to the hospital at the time when the authorities on the call told them to stop as they called for medical assistance.
Fortunately, Baer, an officer with the Murfreesboro police department, happened to be in the area and heard the alert over his radio, WSMV reported.
He immediately heeded the call and drove to the destination, whereupon he was flagged down by Zaire’s father.
“[I just saw] an older man running in the road waving his arms at me,” Baer described, “and at that point, he handed me a one-year-old that wasn’t breathing.”
With time running out, the courageous cop took the child and went to work performing CPR by the side of the road.
Accompanying bodycam footage shows Baer compressing the imperiled tot’s chest as he commands the boy to “stay with him.”
Meanwhile, the petrified father can be heard pleading, “Please don’t stop breathing.”
Unfortunately, Baer’s first attempt failed to revive baby Zaire so he tried again, Media Drum reported.
The officer said that he “picked him up and his eyes rolled in the back of his head and that’s when I sat him back down, he wasn’t breathing again so I started chest compressions again.”
All the while, Baer was reportedly focused on the same thing. “I’m thinking, I have a three-year-old at home, that’s what I’m thinking about,” said the desperate law enforcement officer.
After what seemed like an eternity, he finally managed to resuscitate little Zaire. In the aforementioned clip, the relieved cop can be heard saying, “1145 the baby’s breathing. Baby whimpering.”
“I felt relief, I don’t know how long I did compressions,” said Baer reflecting on the close save. “In that situation, it feels like forever.”
The public servant reportedly revived the kid just in time as with EMS and the fire department noting it would’ve likely been a “different outcome” had he not been there, Baer told News Channel 5.
Baer met with Zaire’s mother Marchelle Brown a month later, during which he held the boy again, but under much better circumstances.
“I really appreciate it and thank you very much that you saved my son,” Brown told her tot’s rescuer in a clip of the happy reunion.
“This is a miracle. He’s a miracle and I’m proud of him,” added the parent, who was particularly grateful to Baer as she’d lost another child in 2020.
This won’t be the last time she sees her son’s savior. “I feel like I’ll forever have a bond with that kid,” gushed Baer. “Mom told me, ‘Don’t be a stranger,’ making sure I come around and checking on him, so. I’m sure I will continue to do that.”
In fact, the cop said the experience made him want to go and check on his own son to make sure “he’s ok.”
Needless to say, the ordeal made an indelible impact. “I’ll never forget the things that took place, the sound he made when he started breathing,” said Baer.
