The Kiss of Life a mans courage in saving a colleague and the photo he took! See more

The image tells a story that words alone could never fully convey. Suspended high above the pavement on a utility pole, an unconscious electrical worker hangs motionless, held only by a safety harness. Another man, his coworker, balances beside him, leaning in to deliver mouth-to-mouth resuscitation while thousands of volts of electricity still hum through the surrounding lines. It is a scene of extreme danger, precision, and humanity colliding in a single breath.

The photographer who captured this moment, Rocco Morabito of the Jacksonville Journal, never intended to witness history that day. He was driving through the city on his way to cover a routine assignment, the kind that fills a reporter’s schedule without leaving a mark. The streets were familiar, the task unremarkable. By his own account, he felt bored, operating on autopilot as he navigated the neighborhood near West 26th Street.

That monotony shattered when he noticed unusual movement near a utility pole. Workers were shouting. Pedestrians were stopping. Something was clearly wrong. Morabito slowed his car, instinctively sensing that this was no minor incident. Within seconds, he realized he was watching a life-or-death emergency unfold in real time.

Two experienced electrical linemen were performing maintenance on a power distribution line when disaster struck. One of them, J.D. Champion, was positioned near the top of the pole. In a fraction of a second, he accidentally made contact with a high-voltage line carrying more than 4,000 volts of electricity. The shock was immediate and devastating. Champion lost consciousness instantly. His heart stopped. His breathing ceased.

The only thing preventing his body from falling to the ground was his safety belt, which left him hanging helplessly in midair. Exposure to that level of electrical current is often fatal within moments. For context, the voltage that struck Champion exceeded what was historically used in electric chairs, underscoring just how close he came to dying.

Below him, fellow lineman Randall G. Thompson saw everything happen. There was no time to wait. No time to call for instructions. No time to climb down and regroup. Thompson reacted on instinct, climbing the pole toward his unconscious colleague while bystanders watched in stunned silence.

What Thompson did next would later be recognized as an extraordinary act of workplace bravery and emergency response under extreme conditions. Realizing Champion had no pulse and was not breathing, Thompson began mouth-to-mouth resuscitation immediately, balancing on the pole dozens of feet above the ground. Performing CPR is challenging on solid ground. Doing it while secured to a narrow utility structure, surrounded by lethal electrical infrastructure, required calm, strength, and total focus.

As this unfolded, Morabito did what great photojournalists are trained to do. He documented the moment. He positioned himself quickly, framed the shot, and pressed the shutter at exactly the right second. The resulting photograph captured the intensity of the rescue with stunning clarity: Thompson’s lips pressed to Champion’s, his body straining to keep balance, the city street far below them.

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