diff --git a/native_client/ctcdecode/ctc_beam_search_decoder.cpp b/native_client/ctcdecode/ctc_beam_search_decoder.cpp
index 33238037..b533d3dc 100644
--- a/native_client/ctcdecode/ctc_beam_search_decoder.cpp
+++ b/native_client/ctcdecode/ctc_beam_search_decoder.cpp
@@ -96,6 +96,9 @@ DecoderState::next(const double *probs,
         if (full_beam && log_prob_c + prefix->score < min_cutoff) {
           break;
         }
+        if (prefix->score == -NUM_FLT_INF) {
+          continue;
+        }
         assert(prefix->is_empty() || prefix->timesteps != nullptr);
 
         // blank