Video: Cop Dies From Infection Caught While Saving Infant

ORANGE COUNTY, FL – Sebastian Diana, 40, joined the Sheriff’s Office in 1999 after serving in the army for six years in Panama, Fort Hood as well as Germany.

Deputy Diana, a father of four, died suddenly of heart failure at his home in Orange County, Florida, after he developed complications from a bacterial infection he picked up during his heroic attempt to save a newborn baby's life.



On February 2006, he was one of three deputies who arrived on the scene to find a woman screaming that her son was dead.

Officials say Mr Diana gave the boy mouth-to-mouth, but as he did so he came into contact with some of the infant’s vomit.

The boy died, and Mr Diana, was later struck down with a bacterial infection.

At first he carried on working after he became ill, and was awarded the Medal of Merit and a Community Service Ribbon in 2007.

Subsequently, he had to take time off work as he fought the condition, the exact nature of which was not disclosed by Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

Orange County Sheriff’s spokesman Jerry Demings said; ‘In many ways, the very life that he was trying to save may have cost him his own life.’

'That’s what law-enforcement officers do. They put themselves in harm’s way every day.’

ORIGINAL SOURCE