As a dedicated public servant, Deputy Jeremie Nix knew that when an emergency situation arises, he will always be there ready to help whether he’s on- or off-duty. That’s exactly what he proved one day when he ended up saving a baby’s life.

The deputy had just gone off-duty in Marion County, Florida when on his way back home, he got into a situation where he knew he could be of great help.

Nix spotted a car swerving onto the shoulder next to his patrol in heavy traffic. While the car’s driver honked the horn repeatedly, a mother emerged, cradling her baby, and started waving at the officer. With his dash cam rolling, it captured a frantic Nechole Cromwell, a mother from Gainesville, Florida, leaping out of the passenger seat with her three-month-old son Kingston in her arms.

The boy stopped breathing…

As it turned out, Nechole and her sister were on their way to the hospital because “he just didn’t look right.” However, Kingston took a turn for the worse as they were driving. They knew they had to get help quickly because traffic was blocking their path. They couldn’t get to the hospital as quickly as they wanted to.

The infant was clearly unresponsive. Talking to WKMG-TV, the deputy shared: “You can tell he’s completely lifeless. She just hands him to me and the first words out of her mouth were, ‘Don’t let my baby die.'”

The patrol’s dashboard camera recorded the entire heart-stopping scene. Nix could be seen reaching the family and immediately set Kingston down on the ground to start life-saving maneuvers. The deputy tried various techniques to revive Kingston, but nothing seemed to work.

He called for an emergency ambulance, but he knew that at this point, time was quickly running out. He continued working on Kingston until he got a faint breath. But he knew that was not enough.

The deputy told dispatch: “I’m not waiting for medics. I’m a half mile from ORC. I’m heading to the emergency room with the baby.”

Nix explained, “I didn’t have time. This baby didn’t have time to wait on an ambulance.”

He knew at that moment that the baby didn’t have that time to wait for help to arrive, so he took matters into his own hands. He made the snap decision to take Kingston from his scared mother, place him in his patrol car, and drove off with sirens blazing.

Nechole and her sister jumped in their car and followed the officer to the hospital. There, the medics were waiting to take the baby off into the trauma unit. And after a few of the longest minutes of Nechole’s life, Officer Nix came back from the trauma unit to tell Kingston was crying.

Nechole said, “I knew crying meant that he was breathing, so I was able to actually relax and try to gather myself enough to see about him. I am so blessed. I thanked him probably a thousand times, and I wanted the world to know that he was amazing, and I felt like God had him at the right place at the right time, and I’m thankful.”

Deputy Nix stayed right by Nechole’s side while her baby was being checked. Later that night, he even brought his wife to the hospital to visit the family. Nechole now believes that Deputy Nix was at that route on that particular day in order to help their family during their time of need.