Pennsylvania heroine saves baby in shocking highway incident

Editor’s note: This article was originally published on August 4, 2022. It has since been updated.

Trigger warning: This article discusses topics such as domestic violence and child abuse that some readers may find disturbing.

In one incident in Pennsylvania, a brave woman risked her life to save a child. Christine King stopped a man from throwing his baby off a freeway overpass while he was arguing with his ex-partner. King was driving on Interstate 95 in Northeast Philadelphia when she noticed the arguing couple. She knew something was wrong with the way he was holding the baby and yelling at the woman. King soon realized he was threatening to throw the baby off the freeway overpass. King slammed on his brakes and pulled over. “I couldn’t just keep driving after I saw the baby,” King said, according to 6ABC. “And after I saw him try to throw the baby over, I couldn’t let go.” He also had a gun on him, but that didn’t deter King, who wanted to protect the baby.

King focused on deescalating the situation and tried to grab the baby. “I said, ‘Give me the baby.’ And I put my hand around the baby to pull it away from him while she was also trying to pull the baby away and I said, ‘Give me the baby,'” King said. “He said, ‘Get off my baby, I’m going to shoot you. I’m going to shoot you.'” King struck a fine balance between argument and arguing as she tried to calm the man down and stop him from throwing his baby off the freeway overpass.

While arguing with the man, his former partner took the gun from him. “She went behind him, he was shaking, so he didn’t know it was in his pocket, and then she took the gun out of his pocket,” King said. His former partner immediately pocketed the gun, but he was still holding the baby. While they were stalling him, officers arrived on the scene, but it took them a while to get the child away from him. “Then the police came and pointed their guns at him, but he wouldn’t let go of the baby,” King said, according to NBC Philadelphia.

Authorities arrested the man and later identified him as Raheem Murphy, 35. He was charged with aggravated assault, kidnapping and endangering the welfare of a child. According to the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, Murphy was also charged with endangering King and a Pennsylvania State Trooper who arrived at the scene. Prosecutors said Murphy pointed a gun at his former partner during an argument and kidnapped her along with their child. He then stopped at the overpass at the Cottman Avenue exit before waving a gun in her direction and threatening to throw the baby off the overpass. Murphy is being held on $1.5 million bail and has obtained a restraining order from the mother and child. He must also undergo a psychiatric evaluation. King was asked if she had been afraid of ever doing something like that again, and she said she wouldn’t hesitate one bit if it happened again. “I would do it again,” she said. “I didn’t see a gun, but when she took the gun from him, that’s when I saw the gun.”

If you know of children being abused, please contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at (800) 422-4453
If you are a victim of domestic violence or know someone who is, please visit the National Domestic Violence Hotline website, call 1-800-799-7233, or text LOVEIS to 22522.