Magia Washington described how, on Thursday, January 18, 2024, she saved a 9-month-old child from what appeared to be an electric shock. The electrocution appears to have been caused by a downed power line in Portland on Wednesday, January 17, 2024. At a press conference held at the Portland Fire and Rescue headquarters downtown, Washington spoke about the incident.
18-year-old Magia Washington was talking to a dispatcher when she spotted the 9-month-old infant holding his head up while lying on his father's side. She decided to try to save the boy after witnessing three individuals being shocked to death.
Describing the scene on Thursday during the press conference, she said:
“The baby moved his head…that's how I knew he was still here.”
She also said,
“The only thing I was thinking about was that he's still here. I wasn't thinking, 'Oh, I could get electrocuted.' I was thinking, 'I need to catch this kid.'
As soon as news of Magia Washington's heroic act was published on X (formerly known as Twitter) by NBC News, netizens took to the comments section of the post to praise Washington for her brave act.
Netizens praised Magia Washington as she saved a 9-month-old child from being electrocuted.
Magia Washington, a brave 18-year-old from Oregon, saved a baby from death. A baby miraculously survived after a downed power line led to his parents and uncle being electrocuted by squatting to pick the baby up from his critically injured father's chest.
Washington claimed that when she called 911, she saw a teenager approaching the SUV: Taron Briggs, a Milwaukee High School student.
On Wednesday morning, Magia Washington noticed a flash from her window in Northeast Portland. When she raised the curtains, she saw a tree branch on the ground and a fallen power line on top of a neighbor's car. A small fire had already spread under the car.
When the mother shouted at her boyfriend to get the child to safety, he grabbed the child and began crawling up the driveway on a very slippery sidewalk. Washington reported that she saw “a little fire and then smoke” as he slid backwards and hit the live wire before he could get halfway across.
When the six-month pregnant mother tried to reach her baby, she also slipped and was electrocuted. When her 15-year-old brother came to help, he also met the same fate.
A day after the accident, on Thursday, she revealed in a press conference that she had maintained a low incline to prevent slipping under the wire during her approach. She also claimed that she did not feel terrified when she took the child from the father's arms. She continued, saying
“I was worried about the baby. No one was with the baby.”
She added, in a press conference on Thursday,
“Everything was happening so fast.”
As soon as news of Washington's brave action broke by NBC News, netizens flooded the comments section of X's post to praise Washington's Magia.
According to Fox40, Portland Fire and Rescue spokesman Rick Graves praised the teen's courage. However, he said he did not understand how she and the child survived the electrocution.
He stated that the child survived due to Magia Washington's unusual actions. He also noted that the child is in good health.
