A 5-month old boy was resuscitated on the side of a Miami highway on Thursday after his aunt jumped out of her car, screaming for help. By a stroke of fate, a photographer from the Miami Herald was nearby and captured the dramatic moments on camera before running down the road until he found a police officer.

Little Sebastian de la Cruz was born prematurely and has suffered from breathing problems in the past, but on Thursday afternoon he stopped breathing completely, sending his aunt, Pamela Rauseo, into traffic for help. A fellow driver, Lucila Godoy, took turns with Rauseo performing CPR on the baby but were unable to resuscitate him. By that time, the photographer, Al Diaz, had located a policeman on the road. Officer Amauris Bastidas ran over to help, checking the baby’s airways, and the relief was palpable when the baby started to breathe again, but it was short lived; a few moments later, their relief turned to panic as his inhalations stopped.

“I lifted him up in the air and moved him up and down,” Bastidas said. “He started breathing and crying. Then he started not breathing again.”

Fortunately, paramedics had already been called and arrived promptly, where they were able to get Sebastian breathing and keep him stabilized on the way to the hospital, where he is doing well.

As for Diaz, he says that the call of his job made him take the photos, but he couldn’t stand by and do nothing while there was a child in real danger.

“As a photojournalist you want to capture these images, but as a human being you want to get help,” Diaz told the Daily News.

Image via Thinkstock