If you and your family were trapped in a burning apartment building several stories above street-level, would you drop your baby over the window to save him? Which would you risk: the baby falling to his death or watching him suffocate in the heavy smoke?
That's the dilemma that Kamil Kaplan faced when he dropped his 9-month-old nephew four stories into the waiting arms of a policeman:
Kamil Kaplan faced a horrifying decision as flames engulfed his apartment building: Does he drop his 9-month-old nephew four stories to a policeman or hope the baby boy survives the suffocating smoke?
Kaplan chose to drop the boy, Onur Celar -- a dramatic life-saving moment captured in photographs seen around the world. "It was terrible. I just had to make a decision," he told CNN. The smoke and flames were becoming unbearable. It was now or never.
"I took the child from my sister, the mother," he said. "She and the father were screaming: 'Don't do it! Don't do it!' But I didn't listen." He added, "I looked into the eyes of the policeman below, and I knew I could trust him."
Though the baby survived, the story didn't have a completely happy ending: the older brother was killed in the fire and the father was badly injured and remains hospitalized.
I hope I never have to make a choice like that though
That's not to say seeing those things don't freak me out. I was crying harder than my daughter was the first time she bumped her head, LOL!