30-year-old Erica Pierce compassionately intervened to save a baby boy from potentially being drowned by his drug-induced mother.
Erica was on her way to her parents’ house in Nampa, Idaho, on a Saturday morning. Erica visited the house every Saturday morning to help clean it in order to make some extra spending money.
One chilly Saturday morning, driving down the road on her way to the house, Erica spotted a women and a little barefoot girl walking down the road’s yellow centerline. The woman was also carrying a baby, who was clad only in a diaper despite the cold weather.
Erica drove past them but had a bad, uneasy feeling in her gut. In an act of compassion, she backed her car up, and asked the woman if she needed help. The women did not respond, but instead keep walking and staring straight ahead.
Erica called 911, and then, while waiting for authorities to arrive, followed the woman and children as they walked off the road onto a dirt trail. Erica found the woman in an irrigation ditch with her baby submerged up to his neck in water. The little girl stood by, crying.
Erica jumped into the water and retrieved the baby, despite the woman’s efforts to fight her off. Shortly after rescuing the baby, police showed up and took control of the situation.
It was later determined that the woman was high on bath salts and opiates, and believed that her children were possessed.
While most people would have driven past the situation, Erica compassionately intervened, and police believed that her heroic actions likely saved the lives of both children.