Sometimes in life, people act on an impulse to do something they feel is right.
Whether it’s due to natural instinct or out of adrenaline, these people become lifelong heroes to many when they risk their lives for others.
Recently, after a terrible accident in Ocean City, Maryland, a toddler was thrown over a bridge into the water.
As reported by the Ocean City Fire Department on Facebook, the accident happened on the Route 90 bridge.
One car was thrown over the side rail.
A 23-month-old child was thrown from the car into the river.
The infant child fell more than 25 ft down to the water below — that’s more than two full stories !
After hitting the water, the little girl was unresponsive and remained facedown despite the screaming onlookers.
A pedestrian who happened to be walking by saw the girl fall and sprang into action.
Can you imagine leaping 25 ft off a bridge into only 5 ft of water ?
This person is lucky that they weren’t injured. Thanks to him, the young girl is okay.
According to the Fire Department, this man saved this young girl’s life.
In a purely selfless act, “He just jumped into action. He saved a 23-month-old child,” said Ryan Whittington; a medic for the Ocean City Fire Department.
Can you imagine being the parents of that little girl?!
Everyone involved was left speechless by this truly courageous act of heroism.
Ryan continued by saying”
“There’s no doubt in our mind that if he had not did[sic] what he did when he did it that we would be having a different headline to this story.”
Both the child, as well as the heroic man who dove in to save her, were later rescued by boaters in the bay.
Once the two of them were safely back onshore, the little girl was flown via helicopter to Johns Hopkins Children’s Hospital for evaluation.
No life-threatening injuries were found.
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All in all, a total of eight different people were taken to the hospital after being injured as a result of the crash.
Luckily, all eight have since been released and suffered only minor wounds. No one is thought to have suffered and permanent or long-lasting damage.
All things considered, it could have been much worse.
“For as much tragedy that you see there, the outcome has really been a successful one,” medic Ryan Whittington said.
He reasoned that in spite of all the chaos that had occurred,
“It was a very fortunate day for a lot of people who experienced traumatic injury .”
It didn’t take long for social media to catch wind of the story.
The Facebook page for the Ocean City Fire Department is awash in comments.
Many were eager to thank the good samaritan for their heroic actions and for saving this young girl’s life.
This Facebook user recommended that the Good Samaritan be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is awarded by the President of the United States as a way of recognizing citizens who have made an exemplary contribution to society.
This is considered to be the nation’s highest honor for civilians.
While others were desperate to find out the man’s true identity.
Whereas many people in a similar situation would have milked their heroism for all that it’s worth, it’s rather humbling to think that this Good Samaritan prefers to remain anonymous — almost as if doing the right thing was rewarding enough.
Which raises the question: what would you do in a similar situation?
Would you be compelled to act or would your own self-preservation keep you from making that heroic leap? Would you want the recognition or would you too remain anonymous?
Make sure to leave a comment and let us know!
