Heroic moment newly-hired TSA agent scrambles over conveyor belt to save two-month-old boy who stopped breathing at airport
- TSA officer Cecilia Morales saved the life of a two-month-old boy who was choking at Newark International Airport on December 9
- The boy’s mother removed the child from a car seat and noticed that he was not breathing before requesting assistance
- Morales said she provided instructions to the mother, who panicked, prompting her to leap over a conveyor belt at the checkpoint
- An emergency medical technician with 10 years of experience, Morales proceeded to perform the infant Heimlich maneuver on the boy and saved him
Dramatic video captured the moment a recently hired TSA agent jumped over a conveyer belt to save a two-month-old baby who had stopped breathing while waiting to go through a security checkpoint at a New Jersey airport.
TSA agent Cecilia Morales was inside the security clearance area at Newark Liberty International Airport when she heard people screaming for help after the boy’s mother noticed that he was not breathing when she lifted him from a car seat on December 9.
Morales, who is a trained emergency medical technician with 10 years of experience, first tried to instruct the mother on how to revive the boy before climbing over the conveyor belt and taking the child from the frantic mom.
The surveillance video – shot during the recent holiday travel rush – showed the distraught mother handing her son over to Morales, who then used the Heimlich maneuver to clear the child’s airway.
‘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.’
TSA agent Cecilia Morales jumps over the conveyor inside the security clearance section at Newark International Airport after she heard a mother screaming for help because her son was not breathing
TSA Officer Cecilia Morales has been lauded for saving the life of a two-month-old boy who nearly choked at Newark International Airport this week.
Morales placed the baby face down over her arm and patted his back but he was still unresponsive. She tried the maneuver a second time before he started to breathe.
Morales, who was hired in October, had previously applied the Heimlich maneuver on adults and children, but never on an infant.
‘She was so nervous and I knew if I didn’t get over there, it wasn’t going to be a good outcome,’ Morales said of the boy’s mother. ‘I jumped over the checkpoint conveyor belt rollers and she gave me the baby. I performed the infant Heimlich maneuver on him.’
The TSA said the boy and the mother are doing well but did not what date the incident occurred.
TSA Manager Ayrana Frazier lauded the agent’s quick-thinking and heroic action, especially during a time of the year when airport checkpoints are crammed with passengers traveling for the holidays.
‘If Officer Morales did not utilize her critical thinking, knowledge and quick response, perhaps we could have had a terrible outcome,’ Frazier said. ‘In the moment Officer Morales was selfless, and her priority was to save a life. We are proud to call her one of our own.’
A mother shouts for assistance after she noticed her son was not breathing after they had been cleared through at a passenger checkpoint inside Newark International Airport
Newly hired TSA agent Cecilia Morales used the Heimlich maneuver to save the life of a two-month-old boy who was choking at Newark International Airport, the agency said this week
