Nurse Maureen Brown Talks About Saving Baby in Near-Drowning

A nurse who saved a three-month-old baby in a near-drowning says she was compelled to stop her car when she saw a mother standing next to a child who was lying on the grass next to a canal.

"I just was looking at the baby – the baby was so cute and so beautiful – and I was just asking, 'God, please let me be able to do something to save this baby's life,'" Maureen Brown said at a Thursday press conference.

Brown had stopped Tuesday when she saw the mother and baby in the grass next to a canal in the Riviera Isles community in Miramar on Tuesday afternoon.

She said she approached the woman, Inakesha Armour, and asked if the baby were OK. Instead of answering, she says, the woman asked to use her phone.

"She kept asking to use the phone," Brown said. "I said, 'Yes, you can use my phone, but is that a baby on the ground? Is that your baby? Is the baby OK?' She turned to me and said, 'I think I killed my baby,'" Brown said. "I just turned to her and I said, 'Let's go help your baby.'"

Brown said her nursing instincts kicked in when she began performing CPR on the child.

"I got out of my car and I ran to the baby, and as I was running I called 911," she said. "The baby's color was a blue, blue – so as a nurse, I thought, 'There's hope here.' So I started trying to clear the baby's airway."

Brown can be heard on the recorded 911 call telling operators: "I was driving by. There's a baby on the ground... Looks like the baby was in water... We need 911 right away."

Once police arrived at the scene, they took over the life-saving efforts, and the baby was revived.

The baby was first taken to Memorial Hospital in Miramar and was later transported to Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital, where he remains in critical condition.

Police took Armour into custody at the scene. She was charged with two counts of attempted premeditated murder of her child, Cayden Armour, after she was overheard telling her husband over the phone that she "did it again," police said. It is unclear if she has an attorney.

In court Thursday, the baby's condition was said to be good from the neck down, but doctors are still awaiting tests from neurologists.

Family members say Armour had been struggling with post-partum depression, according to police. The baby's father, Conlan Armour, told police the family did their best to make sure Inakesha Armour was always with someone else when she was in the presence of the child, police said.

According to the police report, the husband told police that his wife had tried to hurt the baby previously by intentionally giving him adult cough syrup. Police said Inasheka Armour told them in an interview after her arrest she also tried to smother the baby with a pillow during the cough medicine incident, but her mother intervened.

Inasheka Armour remains in jail and is under a suicide watch.

Brown urged the public at Thursday's press conference to learn CPR, including infant CPR, and further awareness of post-partum depression.

Contact Us