PENSYLVANIA’S PHILADELPHIA: On Thursday, July 28, a guy threatened to toss a baby off an interstate overpass, and a woman assisted in calming the situation. Bensalem resident Christine King remembered how she was travelling on Interstate 95 in northeast Philadelphia as she made her way to work.
She noticed a couple arguing on a bridge overpass close to the Cottman Avenue exit at that point. The man, who has since been named as Raheem Murphy, allegedly threatened to toss the youngster he was holding off the overpass, according to King. Then, while still driving down the road, she pulled over and tried to diffuse the situation.
King told WPVI, “I couldn’t just pass once I saw the infant.” “And I couldn’t let it go once I saw him try to hurl the infant over.” King tried to take the child from Murphy after getting out of her car. “I commanded, ‘Give me the child. She tried to pull the baby herself, and I wrapped my hand around the baby to draw it away from him, and I said, “Give me the baby,” she said. “Get off my baby, I’m going to shoot you, he said. I’m going to shoot you.
After battling and pleading with the man for several minutes, King claimed that the woman, who has not yet been named, was able to take the pistol away from him. King was informed by the woman that Murphy was her ex-boyfriend. King told WPVI that when she took the revolver out of his pocket, “she walked behind him, he was shaking so he didn’t realise she was in his pocket.” She placed it in her pocket at that time.
Even after the cops arrived, Murphy resisted the urge to release the child. He allegedly assaulted a state police trooper and resisted arrest before being taken into custody, according to the district attorney’s office. However, police were able to remove the child from him in a secure manner. Emergency medical workers on the site also examined the toddler.
With aggravated assault, kidnapping for ransom, unlawful restraint, unlawful possession of an instrument of crime with intent, simple assault, terroristic threats, coercing/threaten to commit a crime, false imprisonment, reckless endangerment, disorderly conduct, and harassment, Murphy, 35, of Bristol, was charged. He was also accused of resisting arrest, attacking a police officer, and other charges. The offender was initially charged last week in Philadelphia Municipal Court and is currently being imprisoned at Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility on 10% of a $1.5 million bond. According to the DA’s office, he is also subject to a stay order and is needed to go through a mental health evaluation.
King claimed that she felt no remorse about putting herself in a perilous situation. She told WPVI that she would do it again. “I didn’t see a gun, but I did see one when she took the gun away from him. He was attempting to knock the infant over, she continued.
Please call the Women Against Abuse hotline at 1-866-723-3014 or the National Domestic Abuse Hotline at 1-888-799-SAFE (7233) if you or someone you know is a victim of domestic abuse or would like to report it.