As a dramatic viral video shows, a Tennessee police officer went above and beyond the call of duty after performing emergency CPR on a dying baby.
“Just don’t be the one to let this kid die, that’s what was going through my head,” hero police officer Robert Bell told News Channel 5 of the incredible Aug. 31 incident in Murfreesboro time.
Around 2 a.m., a 911 dispatcher received a distressing call from a frantic couple claiming their one-year-old son, Zaire Brown, was not breathing.
The two were reportedly on their way to the hospital when authorities received a call asking them to stop and seek medical assistance.
Fortunately, Bell, an officer with the Murfreesboro Police Department, happened to be in the area and heard the alarm over the radio, WSMV reported.
He immediately got the call and drove to his destination before Zaire’s father stopped him.
“[I just saw] An older man was running down the road waving his arms at me,” Bell described. “That’s when he handed me a one-year-old child who wasn’t breathing. ”
As time ran out, the brave police officers took the child to the side of the road to perform CPR.
Accompanying body camera footage shows Bell ordering the boy to “stay with him” while compressing the at-risk child’s chest.
Meanwhile, the petrified father can be heard pleading: “Please don’t stop breathing.”
Unfortunately, Bell’s first attempt failed to save baby Zaire, so he tried again, Media Drum reports.
The officer said he “picked him up and his eyes were rolling in the back of his head, and just as I sat him down, he wasn’t breathing, so I started chest compressions again.”
Bale has reportedly been focused on the same thing. “I’m thinking, I have a three-year-old at home, that’s what I’m thinking,” the desperate lawman said.
After what seemed like an eternity, he finally revived little Zaire. In the clip above, a relieved officer can be heard saying: “1145 baby breathing. Baby whimpering.”
“I felt so relieved, I don’t know how long I pressed,” Bale said, recalling the close save. “In that case, it felt like forever.”
Bell told News Channel 5 that the civil servant reportedly was able to revive the child in time, with the fire department also noting that a “different outcome” could have occurred had he not been present.
A month later, Bell met with Zaire’s mother, Marshall Brown, during which time he held Zaire again, but in much better condition.
“I’m really grateful, thank you so much for saving my son,” Brown told her child’s rescuer in a video of the happy reunion.
“It’s a miracle. He’s a miracle and I’m so proud of him.” The parent added that she was especially grateful for Bell because she lost another child in 2020.
It wouldn’t be the last time she saw her son’s savior. “I feel like I’m going to be connected to that kid forever,” Bell gushed. “My mom told me, ‘Don’t be a stranger,’ and made sure I came over to see him, so. I’m sure I’ll continue to do that.”
In fact, the police officer said the experience made him want to check on his son to make sure “he was OK.”
Needless to say, the ordeal had an indelible impact. “I’ll never forget what happened and the sound he made when he started breathing,” Bell said.
