Three quick-thinking Hialeah police officers are being credited with saving the life of a sick baby.
Allison Beltran, who is 18 months old, fell violently ill to a virus Thursday night. Officer Gabriel Arrojas told NBC 6 South Florida her rescue all began when he spotted a car speeding through a light at West 68th Street and 19th Court.
"I just pulled him over, was going to give him a traffic infraction for running the red light, and that's when everything started to happen," Arrojas explained.
Arrojas said that speeding driver then pointed him towards an hysterical mother who was cradling her seemingly lifeless daughter in her arms. The officer recalled the mother screamed helplessly as she handed her baby to him.
"There's like nothing going on, her eyes were already rolled into the back of her head," Arrojas said. "My partner shows up at the exact same time. I walk her over to the back of the car, we start to do CPR."
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Hialeah police later learned baby Allison's mom pulled her car over after noticing the toddler wasn't breathing, and was convulsing and foaming at the mouth in the back seat. Within minutes, Sgt. Yunior Pineiro and Officer Ali Acay arrived to the scene. Given the child's condition, the sergeant then made the critical call to forgo an ambulance, and rush the child to Palmetto General Hospital themselves.
"It's a decision I had to make on the scene, and based with what I had when I arrived, I saw that child lifeless," Pineiro said. "I'm a father myself, and I wanted to get that child to a doctor right away."
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The officers said they didn't know what the outcome would be as they made the short drive to the hospital. But they were relieved to learn that baby Allison was discharged from Palmetto General early Friday morning and was sent home to recover.
"We're not doctors, so we don't know how she was gonna pull through, but thank God she did," Acay said.
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Photo Credit: Courtesy Photo