‘Please hurry’: Trooper jumps into action to save baby who wasn’t breathing

ROWAN COUNTY, N.C. — A trooper jumped into action over the weekend to save a baby who wasn’t breathing. Community paramedics told Channel 9′s Hannah Goetz if it wasn’t for him, the baby girl might not be alive.

On Saturday afternoon, Trooper Hunter Eagle was on patrol in Rowan County when a call came in for a cardiac arrest on Sides Road.

“I need help, you’ve got to send somebody,” the caller said.

“She’ll be a year old in August,” they said, then, “Please hurry, we woke up to her not breathing.”

Eagle happened to be just seconds away.

“As I pull into the driveway, there is a mom carrying out her 11-month-old in her arms, screaming saying, ‘please help my baby, she’s not breathing,’” he said.

In the 911 call, you can hear the parents frantically talking to Trooper Eagle, who remained calm despite the chaos.

“She had a hard time breathing, she’s choking,” the caller said. “She didn’t take a breath.”

“You hear stories of, you know, you need to be ready for that time when that parent gives you their baby and says, ‘hey, help my baby, I can’t do anything,’” Eagle said. “And nothing prepares you for that until you’re in that moment.”

But Trooper Eagle was prepared, taking the baby into his arms and starting CPR.

“It was just this dead weight,” Eagle said. “You’re freaking out on the inside, your adrenaline is rushing, and you’re just trying to find that pulse. And when you can’t find it, that’s when it’s game on.”

“Lay the baby in your arm and use this other hand to push on her chest.”

In the 911 call, the dispatcher said Trooper Eagle was performing CPR.

“Come on baby, come on baby,” the caller said.

The baby started breathing again and EMS took her to the hospital.

Inside the trailer where she and her parents were staying, deputies say they found drug paraphernalia like uncapped syringes and drug residue. They said the parents, Jamie Robertson and James Danielson, admitted to injecting fentanyl before falling asleep with their baby in the bed.

Investigators believe drugs contributed to the baby’s heart attack. Both parents were arrested.

Trooper Eagle said he hopes the little girl lives a safe, healthy life.

“Keep fighting,” he said. “She fought on Saturday and if she can make if through that, she can make it through anything.”

The baby, who turns 1 year old next month, was administered Narcan. She has been released from the hospital and is expected to make a full recovery.

The Department of Social Services was called in to assist with the case.

As for the parents, they are in the Rowan County jail on a $100,000 bond.

Eagle received a Lifesaving Award from the North Carolina State Highway Patrol for his efforts.

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