Ex-Marine catches toddler thrown from burning building by his mum before she died in fire

In a heart-wrenching incident, a former Marine helped save a toddler from an apartment fire that killed the child’s mother. In a dramatic cellphone footage, a desperate mother can be seen throwing the 3-year-old child from a balcony of a building on fire into the arms of a rescuer. The incident reportedly happened when Philip Blanks, a retired US Marine officer was visiting a friend in Arizona when he heard a commotion outside an apartment.

He was at the apartment on Friday morning when he reportedly heard frantic screaming. On rushing out, he found out that an entire building was on fire.

'Jump lady, Jump'

According to reports, Rachel, a mother of two was stuck inside the building with her 3-year-old son Jamison. Suddenly, in a moment of panic, she dropped the boy from the apartment who was instantly caught by Blanks. Dramatic footage of the incident which shows the toddler plummeting into the ground before being caught by the officer has surfaced on the internet. The short clip also shows people yelling ‘throw the baby down’, while encouraging Rachel to jump.

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As per the clip, Rachel was already on fire when the incident happened. However, rather than escaping the situation, she went inside to find her eight-year-old daughter. Meanwhile, speaking to international media reporters, Blanks said that he just “did his best". Elaborating further, he said that Jamison’s head landed perfectly on his elbow. However, his ankle got twisted up.

Explaining why he stepped in, he said it looked like the guy who as there wasn’t going to catch him. Blanks said that he just wanted to make a better catch. Soon after the incident, the firefighters reached the spot only to find the mother dead. Jamison, who felt he was was fine was taken to the hospital.

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