Oregon teen rescues baby after his family is electrocuted by downed power line
An Oregon teen is reflecting on saving a baby after she saw a downed power line fatally electrocute three people, including the infant’s parents, during an icy storm this week.
Majiah Washington, 18, told a news conference Thursday about successfully rescuing the 9-month-old after she witnessed his mother — who was six months pregnant — and father get electrocuted outside her home, NBC News reports.
Washington spotted the infant atop his dad, Nash, while she was on the phone with emergency services and managed to avoid the wires as she reached the child, she said at a news conference.
“I was concerned about the baby,” recalled Washington, who managed to avoid electrocution though she made contact with the body of the baby’s dad. “Nobody was with the baby.”
“A little fire, then smoke,” Washington recalled of seeing the dad slide on the icy concrete and die after his foot made contact with the live wire. The power line had fallen on their SUV outside Washington’s home.
The mother — the 21-year-old daughter of Washington’s neighbor, Ronald Briggs — and her brother, 15-year-old Ta’Ron Briggs, suffered the same fate as they slipped and were ultimately electrocuted.
“We do have fortunately with us a toddler that is going to be able to thrive and do what they possibly can as they move forward,” Portland Fire and Rescue spokesman Rick Graves told the news conference.
Authorities said the baby is unharmed, following an examination at the hospital.
The little boy is “here, in part, because of the heroic acts of a member of our community,” said Graves.
“I have six kids. I lost two of them in one day,” Ronald Briggs told local outlet KGW of the tragedy. His daughter’s name has not yet been reported.
Briggs said his daughter and her boyfriend had come to his home to use his Wi-Fi after the storm knocked out theirs.
At least 10 people have died in Oregon due to the brutal winter storms that have plagued the Pacific Northwest in recent days.
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