TSA officer saves infant who stopped breathing at airport

NEWARK: A security officer leapt over conveyor belt rollers and saved a two-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 on December 9 after his mother picked him up from a car carrier and noticed he wasn't breathing.

Morales, an

EMT

who has been a TSA officer for about two months, told the agency she performed the infant version of the Heimlich maneuver, placing the baby face down on her arm and patting 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."