Shortly after the police and firefighters learned a man and a child were trapped inside a burning house, a hero named Nick Bostic appeared backlit by flames and walking toward first responders with the 6-year-old in his arms. After entering a home engulfed in flames last week and saving the lives of five children trapped inside the house in Lafayette, Indiana, the 25-year-old Indiana man is being hailed as a hero.
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On a July 14 release police body-worn video, an officer can be seen taking the crying girl from his arms as Bostic, who was winded, wheezing and wounded, sits on the curb and says: “I need oxygen.” The video shows an officer helping Bostic to his feet and taking him to the other side of the street, where Bostic lies in the grass while an officer applies a tourniquet to his right arm, which is bleeding.
Bostic then says, “I can barely breathe,” right before he asks: “Is the baby OK? Please tell me the baby’s OK.”
Someone off-camera then assures him the girl is fine.
About 12:30 a.m. on July 11, Bostic got four people out of the house, police said, then reentered the inferno to find the 6-year-old girl upstairs. Bostic and the girl then got trapped by the fire on the second floor, and he jumped from the window with the girl in his arms. Police said that the girl suffered only a minor cut to her foot.
According to the fire department’s investigation, the fire started on the front porch and is believed to have been caused by ashes emptied into a bucket before they were extinguished. As Bostic suffered smoke inhalation and a cut to his arm, he was taken to Eskenazi Hospital in Indianapolis.
Tony Roswarski, who is the Lafayette Mayor, with the Lafayette Fire Department and Lafayette Police Department will publicly recognize Bostic’s actions on August 2, at a Lafayette Aviators game, which is a part of a summer collegiate baseball league, which also is National Night Out, when law enforcement and communities come together to recognize their beneficial relationships.
Proceeds from the ticket sales will be donated to an online fundraising campaign for Bostic. A truly, great heroic act by a driving-by pizza delivery guy.
Photo: screencap