Ta'Ron Briggs (15), his sister Tajaliyah (21) and her boyfriend DeVonte Nash electrocuted

[puzzld]

Majiah Washington noticed a flash outside her home this week in Portland, where a dangerous storm had coated the city with ice. Opening her blinds, she saw a red SUV with a downed power line on it and a couple who had been putting their baby in the car.

The woman screamed to her boyfriend to get the baby to safety, and he grabbed the child and began to scramble up the driveway on concrete so slick it was almost impossible to walk. But before he made it halfway, he slid backward and his foot touched the live wire ? "a little fire, then smoke," Washington said.

The mother, six months pregnant, tried to reach the baby, but she too slipped and was electrocuted. So was her 15-year-old brother, when he came out to help.

Washington, 18, was on the phone with a dispatcher when she saw the baby, lying on top of his father, move his head ? the 9-month-old was alive. Having just seen three people shocked to death, she decided to try to save the boy.

She kept a low crouch to avoid sliding into the wire as she approached, she said at a news conference Thursday, a day after the deaths. As she grabbed the baby she touched the father's body, but she wasn't shocked, she said.

"I was concerned about the baby," said Washington, who recognized the woman as her neighbor's daughter. "Nobody was with the baby."

Portland Fire and Rescue spokesman Rick Graves praised Washington for her heroism but confessed he didn't understand how she and the baby weren't also electrocuted. The baby was examined at a hospital and is fine, authorities have said.

"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," Graves said. "And they are here, in part, because of the heroic acts of a member of our community."

The snow, freezing rain, ice and frigid temperatures that hammered the Pacific Northwest in the past week have now been blamed for at least 10 deaths in Oregon, from hypothermia and falling trees or utility poles, along with five from hypothermia in the Seattle area.

Oregon's governor declared a statewide emergency Thursday night after requests for aid from multiple counties "as they enter the sixth day of severe impacts" from the weather.

The ice weighs down trees and power lines making them prone to snap, especially in strong winds. That appears to be what caused the electrocution deaths: A large branch broke from a tree, landed on utility wires and pushed one onto the vehicle.

Washington's neighbor, Ronald Briggs, declined to speak with The Associated Press beyond confirming that his 21-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son had been killed.

But he told Portland television station KGW that his daughter had come over to use the internet after hers went out. He and his wife had just gotten in their own car to run an errand when they heard the boom and saw the SUV apparently on fire.

He watched as the couple slid to their deaths ? and then told his 15-year-old son, Ta'Ron Briggs, a high school sophomore, to keep his distance, to no avail.

"I told him, 'Don't go down there ? try to get away from them.' And he slid, and he touched the water, and he, and he died too," Briggs said. "I have six kids. I lost two of them in one day."

"It just hurt," he said. "Being a good father cannot solve this right now."
https://www.11alive.com/article/news...e-5b5ae9c85119

[Boston Babe 73]

She's a hero! My god. How devastating! This is one of my worst nightmares

[Bewitchingstorm]

Wow - agree, she is definitely a hero.

Her FB: https://www.facebook.com/majiah.washington.94

[puzzld]

DeVonte https://www.gofundme.com/f/portland-...%20share-sheet
Briggs siblings https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-brigg...ource=customer

https://www.11alive.com/article/weat...f-09e9a8a3b368

On Wednesday, a Portland father experienced an unimaginable tragedy that no parent would ever wish to go through. He witnessed his 15-year-old son and his 21-year-old daughter, who was six months pregnant, die after live power lines fell down.

"I have six kids. I lost two of them in one day," Ronald Briggs said.

His daughter's boyfriend, Nash, was also killed. Nash was the father of his 9-month-old grandson who survived, Briggs said. A neighbor, who saw the family and felt that something was wrong, rescued the baby.

Briggs said his daughter, Nash, and his grandson came to his home in Northeast Portland when their Wi-Fi stopped working after this week's ice storm. His daughter needed to let her workplace know that she wasn't coming in. As they left his house, Ronald Briggs and his wife got into their car to go to the store when they heard a loud sound.

"We heard a loud boom. And my wife?s like, 'Oh my god, their car is on fire,'" he said.

When the power line fell on top of their red SUV near Northeast Siskiyou Street and Northeast 122nd Avenue, everyone jumped outside on the ice.

"They were walking up the hill and they slid back down," he said. "My daughter tried to grab her boyfriend, her baby's dad with the baby, and his foot touched the wire."

Briggs said his 15-year-old son, Ta'Ron Briggs, went out to try to help them.

"I told him, 'Don?t go down there ? try to get away from them.' And he slid, and he touched the water, and he, and he died too," he said.

Ta'Ron was a sophomore who played football at Milwaukie High School. Ronald Briggs' daughter had played basketball at Parkrose High School.
Credit: Family of Ta?Ron Briggs
Ta?Ron Briggs, 15, was one of three people who died. Milwaukie High School said Briggs was a sophomore at their school.

"It just hurts. Seeing my kids dying ? I can?t do nothing about it," he said.

His 9-month-old grandson was still alive in Nash's arms.

"His dad saved his life ? he laid on top of his dad," Briggs said.

Majiah Washington lives nearby and jumped in to help after seeing flashes from her window. She thought they were from gun shots at first, but then realized it was the power line.

"I know some people might say it?s probably a dumb decision, but I don't know, I just felt like I had to go get that baby," she said.

She grabbed the baby and saw that he was alert. The 9-month-old was taken to the hospital and is in good condition.

GoFundMes for Tajaliyah and Ta?Ron Briggs, as well as DeVonte Nash, have been created for funeral and burial costs.