In the midst of a treacherous storm that had dumped a thick layer of ice on Portland, Majiah Washington witnessed a harrowing scene outside her home. A red SUV, tangled with a downed power line, sat precariously close to her driveway. Within the vehicle, a couple frantically tried to protect their nine-month-old baby, desperate to get it to safety. Like Washington, I was drawn into this unfolding drama.
As she watched, the baby’s father scrambled up the slick driveway, his attempt foiled when he slipped backward and inadvertently touched the live wire. A burst of flames and smoke ensued. Washington then saw the mother, six months pregnant, try to reach the baby, only to slip and get electrocuted as well. Her 15-year-old brother, joining the effort, met the same tragic fate.
Washington, 18, happened to be on the phone with a dispatcher as she witnessed this calamity. Seeing the baby, motionless on top of its father, miraculously move its head, she knew she had to act. Despite the danger, she crouched low to avoid touching the wire and approached the vehicle. As she picked up the baby, she lightly touched its father’s body but was not electrocuted herself.
“I was concerned about the baby,” Washington recalled at a news conference the next day. “Nobody was with the baby.” Her selflessness in the face of unimaginable danger has earned her widespread acclaim. Authorities have praised her heroism, admitting they cannot comprehend how she and the baby escaped electrocution.
Teen Saves Baby from Electrocution During Portland Ice StormThe baby, thankfully, is uninjured and receiving medical attention. Meanwhile, the storm that ravaged the Pacific Northwest has claimed at least 10 lives in Oregon and five in Seattle, mainly due to hypothermia and fallen trees or utility poles.
The severe weather conditions, which included snow, freezing rain, and ice, made trees and power lines particularly vulnerable to damage. This appears to have been the case in the electrocution deaths, where a large branch snapped off a tree, hitting utility wires, and then landed on the SUV.
Washington’s neighbor, Ronald Briggs, has been left devastated after the loss of his daughter and 15-year-old son. In a painful interview, he recounted watching the couple slip to their deaths, his own 15-year-old son, Ta’Ron, slipping and falling into the same tragedy.
“It hurts,” Briggs said, struggling to come to terms with his loss. “Being a good father cannot solve this right now.”