Incredible Images as Aunt, Motorists Save Infant with CPR

Pamela Rauseo, 37, performs CPR on her nephew, five-month-old Sebastian de la Cruz, after pulling her SUV over on the side of the road along the west bound lane on Florida state road 836 just east of 57th Avenue around 2:30pm on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014. At right is Lucila Godoy who stopped her car to assist in the rescue. The baby was rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he is reportedly doing ok. (AP Photo/The Miami Herald, Al Diaz)

By Sue Cocking, The Miami Herald

It was a sight that jarred motorists on busy Dolphin Expressway.

Westbound traffic suddenly came to a standstill around 2:30 p.m. Thursday, and a woman sprang from her car, holding a baby, screaming for help.

Pamela Rauseo, 37, of West Kendall, quickly got that help for her 5-month-old nephew, little Sebastian de la Cruz, who was turning blue.

Rauseo said she was in a panic, thinking she could not let anything happen to the baby while in her care.

“My sister had trusted me with him,” she told reporters.

Motorists stuck in traffic just east of 57th Avenue swung into action.

Lucila Godoy, 34, of Miami left her 3-year-old son in her car to help Rauseo revive the unconscious infant, who she said was born prematurely and had respiratory issues.

Miami Herald photographer Al Diaz, stopped right behind Rauseo, jumped out of his car.

“I heard screaming,” he said. He saw a woman pop out of the car in front of him “screaming that the baby can’t breathe.”

Diaz quickly jogged through traffic lanes to summon more help. He found Sweetwater police officer Amauris Bastidas, who ran to the scene and took over CPR for Godoy, performing chest pumps while Rauseo breathed into the baby’s mouth.

“I lifted him up in the air and moved him up and down,” Bastidas said. “He started breathing and crying.”

Then the baby stopped breathing again.

Sweetwater officer Amauris Bastidas helps rescue a five-month-old baby boy, Sebastian de la Cruz, who stopped breathing. At center, the baby's aunt, Pamela Rauseo, 37, performed CPR after pulling her SUV over on the side of the road along the west bound lane on Florida state road 836 just east of 57th Avenue around 2:30pm on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014. At right is Lucila Godoy who stopped her car to assist in the rescue. (AP Photo/Miami Herald, Al Diaz) — Sweetwater officer Amauris Bastidas helps rescue a five-month-old baby boy, Sebastian de la Cruz, who stopped breathing. At center, the baby’s aunt, Pamela Rauseo, 37, performed CPR after pulling her SUV over on the side of the road along the west bound lane on Florida state road 836 just east of 57th Avenue around 2:30pm on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014. At right is Lucila Godoy who stopped her car to assist in the rescue. (AP Photo/Miami Herald, Al Diaz)

The trio frantically started CPR again and got the baby breathing. By that time, more help had arrived.

Capt. Anthony Trim and Lt. Alvaro Tonanez with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue’s hazardous materials unit — also stuck in traffic — jumped out of their separate cars. They were returning from a meeting and happened to hear the emergency call over the radio.