Mom Surprises Deputy With Godfather Honor One Year After He Saved Baby's Life

As ABC11 reported, however, he soon learned that there was a good reason for the driver to move so fast: The woman in the vehicle was holding a 12-day-old baby who was not breathing.

In Kimbro's body camera footage of the incident, he can be heard encouraging this, saying, "Come on baby, cry for me. Come on, open those eyes, sweetheart."

When Ryleigh does cry a little, Kimbro explains to her mother that as long as she's crying like that, she's breathing.

In the video, he can be heard saying, "I'm worried about her, because she starts breathing and then she stops. And then starts and then stops."

Nonetheless, Ryleigh would go on to make a full recovery.

This is not to be confused with the South Carolina Medal of Valor, which is typically awarded to South Carolina residents who give their lives while serving in the military.

As ABC Columbia reported, this particular award is instead given to law enforcement officers who "perform actions above and beyond the call of duty."

When Ryleigh was three months old, she and her mother attended a small ceremony hosted by the Berkeley County Council honoring Kimbro for his lifesaving deed.

As ABC4 reported, for Ryleigh's first birthday on May 31, he brought her gifts.

Twelve days later, however, the girl's mother arrived at Kimbro's house with a gift of her own.

As Kimbro told ABC 4, "She hands my wife and I these envelopes with a penny on them. She said, 'you'll need the penny.' She said, 'you'll need to read the card out loud.'"

As Kimbro said, "My jaw just dropped. I just had this look on my face, looked at Ryleigh. I said, 'absolutely, absolutely,' and my wife got the same card."

And as we can see here, the couple can now proudly consider themselves Ryleigh's godparents.

h/t: ABC11, ABC4