diff --git a/spacy/syntax/_state.pxd b/spacy/syntax/_state.pxd
index a95a1910f..d082cee5c 100644
--- a/spacy/syntax/_state.pxd
+++ b/spacy/syntax/_state.pxd
@@ -314,8 +314,8 @@ cdef cppclass StateC:
             this._stack[this._s_i] = this.B(0)
         this._s_i += 1
         this._b_i += 1
-        if this.B_(0).sent_start == 1:
-            this.set_break(this.B(0))
+        if this.safe_get(this.B_(0).l_edge).sent_start == 1:
+            this.set_break(this.B_(0).l_edge)
         if this._b_i > this._break:
             this._break = -1