Fort Worth Officers Lift Car With Bare Hands to Save Baby After Horrific Crash

Fort Worth police car
Fort Worth police car Photo by FMT licensed under CC BY 4.0.

A baby is expected to make a full recovery, and two Fort Worth police officers are being praised for their quick action after rescuing the infant, who was trapped beneath an overturned car following a crash on Texas’s Interstate 30 Thursday morning.

According to Fort Worth police, Sgt. R. Nichols and Officer E. Bounds responded to the accident around 9:30 a.m. after a woman and her baby were involved in a collision that caused the child to be thrown from the vehicle.

Body camera footage released Friday by the department shows one of the officers sprinting toward the overturned car as a panicked woman screams for her baby.

“Hey, we need to move the car. I think the baby’s under there,” the officer is heard shouting.

He quickly enlisted the help of nearby drivers who had stopped to assist, urging them, “Keep moving, keep moving,” as they lifted the vehicle just high enough for him to reach under and pull the baby out by the leg.

The child appeared unresponsive at first, but an officer checked for a pulse and began CPR, pressing on the baby’s chest with his fingers. Moments later, the infant began to make faint sounds — then let out a cry.

Police said both the mother and baby were in stable condition and expected to recover fully.

Authorities did not release details about what caused the crash or any additional injuries.

Under Texas law, children under the age of eight or shorter than 4 feet 9 inches must be secured in a child safety seat while riding in a vehicle.

“This video may be difficult to watch, but it highlights the kinds of emergencies our officers face while serving the community,” the department said in its social media post.

Fort Worth Police Chief Eddie Garcia called the child a “little angel” and commended the officers’ bravery. “Not sure there’s a better example of PROTECT and SERVE,” Garcia wrote.

“We are incredibly proud of Sgt. Nichols and Officer Bounds for their life-saving actions and thankful to the citizens who didn’t hesitate to help,” the department added.