Marine catches toddler dropped from 3rd floor balcony

A video that has gone viral on social media shows how a Marine sprang into action as a toddler was dropped from a 3rd floor balcony of a burning apartment.

What We Know:

• The fire broke out at the apartment near 19th and Dunlap Avenues on Friday.

https://twitter.com/anda_bongoza/status/1281065137294770177

• A woman was found dead by firefighters. She was identified as 30-year-old Rachel Long, a mother of two children who were also seriously injured in the fire, police said.
• As smoke and flames engulfed the apartment, Phillip Blanks saw what was happening.
• Cellphone video shows Blanks running toward the building, where the third story apartment was engulfed. A woman, believed to be the child’s mother desperately dropped him off the third-floor balcony.
• Blanks, a Marine and a wide receiver in high school, was there to catch him. “He helicoptered around before he fell. His torso landed right in my elbow. Right here. So, it was a perfect landing.”
• “I can definitely credit to the Marine Corps for instilling this good training in me to save a life,” he said. “I don’t see myself as a hero. A person trained to do my job is trained to protect people.”
• According to police, officers arrived at the apartment around 9 a.m. Neighbors met the police officers with the two children.
• Police say officers carried the children, an 8-year-old girl and a 3-year-old boy, to fire rescue units and then they transported both children to a nearby hospital in serious condition. They both suffered serious burns, but they will recover.