Copyright 2016 by Gary L. Pullman
No good deed goes
unpunished,” some cynics say, and some evidence supports their
point of view. Good Samaritans have suffered losses ranging from
employment to life itself. In many cases, their losses affected
others as well.
Spouses, parents,
children, other relatives, and friends often pay a price nearly as
great as the heroes' own.
Authorities
aren't always sure when ordinary people should intervene in
life-threatening situations, and some employers forbid such action on
penalty of termination. Nevertheless, some good Samaritans say,
despite the losses they've suffered, they'd do the same thing again,
if necessary. When emergency situations confront them, they tend to
act without a second thought, willing to sacrifice all, simply
because, they believe, such action is required.
These
men and women certainly did.
10 Kristopher Oswald
After negative publicity
for firing a good Samaritan hired to stock shelves at night, a
Michigan Wal-Mart store offered to rehire Kristopher Oswald, age 30.
(A Wal-Mart spokesperson said the company's policy “requires
employees to alert store management and call police instead of
intervening in dangerous situations.”) A temporary employee at the
time, Oswald intervened when a man attacked a woman in the store's
parking lot. While eating a sandwich in his car during a break,
Oswald heard the woman scream and saw her attacker “sprawled on the
hood” of her car. She tried to “pry him off,” but he attacked
her. When Oswald “confronted the man,” the assailant began to
pummel him and threatened to kill him. Oswald was able to “subdue”
the attacker, but “two other men jumped him form behind.” After
police “broke up the fight,” Wal-Mart responded to the hero's
actions by terminating his employment, and Oswald refused the store's
offer to hire him back. (LINK 1)
9 Willie Parks
In Omaha, Nebraska, Osmar
Garcia, age 18, disregarded a stop sign. Hurtling through an
intersection, he struck two motorcyclists, Albert Brown and Patricia
White. Good Samaritan Willie Parks, age 27, used a car jack to rescue
Brown and White, who were trapped under the Buick LeSabre that had
struck them. In the process, Parks lost the “tip of his right index
finger.” The victims were also injured, suffering broken legs.
Garcia, who was uninjured, was cited for driving without a license or
a “valid registration.” (LINK 2)
8 Jesse Bautista
On July 18, 2016, in
Houston, Texas, Jesse Bautista, age 41, and his cousin Carlos agreed
to give the driver of a disabled car a ride to his aunt's house. On
the way, the man attempted to carjack their vehicle. The stranger
grabbed Bautista, threatening him with a screwdriver. Bautista's
cousin, Carlos, scrambled from the car and took the screwdriver away
from the man, but not before the assailant had stabbed Bautista with
the tool. Caught in his seat belt and unable to escape from the
vehicle, Bautista was dragged over “a half mile,” suffering
“horrific burns” to “his chest, abdomen and arms.” He also
received “spinal injuries and fractures across his body and lost
three toes.” Bautista's injuries required hospitalization. It was
the carjacker's second attempt that day to steal a car. An hour
before, a woman managed to escape. (LINK 3)
7 Angel Soto
Angel Soto
In 2012, near Boynton
Beach, Florida, Angel Soto lived up to his name when he assisted a
26-year-old car crash victim, Alexander Proscrurshim. Moments after
Soto pulled Proscrurshim from his wrecked truck, Soto was pinned
against the vehicle by another car. “The car hit so hard I couldn't
feel my legs; the pain was excruciating. I was hopping around and
looked down and it was a bloody mess,” Soto declared. The rescued
man became the rescuer, as Proscrurshim made a tourniquet of “an
old shirt.” Having “lost most of his right leg,” Soto was
fitted with a prosthetic replacement. Although Soto's left leg was
broken, doctors expect a “full recovery.” Even though he said
he's “really happy to be alive” and with his wife and children,”
Soto said rescuing a stranger was “worth it” and, “given the
chance,” he would “do it again.” (LINK 4)
6 Gabriel Botiller
Gabriel Botiller, age 22,
who worked for the Discount Tire chain, stopped to help a stranded
off-duty police officer whose car was parked along a “busy
expressway” near Mesa, Arizona. As the officer stood nearby,
Botiller was changing his tire when a vehicle struck his truck,
driving it toward Botiller and the officer, both of whom were
severely injured and hospitalized. Botiller “was airlifted to a
local trauma center with severe injuries, his chances of survival
slim,” having sustained a badly broken right leg, a broken
collarbone, and “several lacerations.” He also lost his left leg.
Both Botiller and the officer survived, but the driver who struck
Botiller's truck did not. (LINK 5)
5 Danny Krum
When he heard a woman was
trapped in a car and only one other person was present, Danny Krum
rushed to the victim's aid. He'd been cooking but forgot to turn off
the stove. “Twenty-five minutes later,” he said, “my house was
gone.” After reaching his attic, “the fire spread across the
whole house,” Coal
Grove Volunteer Fire Captain Jay Sherman said. Not only did Krum and
his wife, who'd called him from the Ironton,
Ohio, accident scene to notify him of the trapped motorist, lose
their home, but one of their dogs perished in the fire as well. The
motorist, 38-year-old Toni Christian, crossed four lanes before
striking an “embankment” and flipping her car. Although injured
in the crash and hospitalized, she was expected to make a complete
recovery. The same firefighters who rescued her responded to the fire
at the Krums' residence. (LINK 6)
4 Shane Stokowski
Shane Stokowski, left, and Timothy McShane, right
It was obvious that
Timothy McShane was in no condition to drive. After leaving a bar in
Chicago, Illinois, he “smashed into parked cars” as he attempted
to drive home. Fearing McShane might kill someone, 33-year-old Shane
Stokowski ran alongside the drunk driver's car, pleading with him not
to “do it.” Along the way, Stokowski slipped and fell. It appears
McShane ran over his skull, as prosecutors claimed Stokowski
sustained “massive head injuries consistent with a tire running
over his head” and have charged McShane, “whose license was
suspended after a history of drunken-driving arrests,” with
“reckless homicide and aggravated DUI.” During McShane's trial,
“Dr. James Filkins, then an assistant medical examiner, testified
that Stokowski had suffered so many fractures to his skull that he
couldn't count them all.” Stokowski's father, Jeff, said, “My
son, he tried to do the right thing, and it cost him his life.” At
the time of his death, Stokowski was engaged and had expected to be
married six months later. (LINK 7)
3 Anthony “T. J.”
Antell, Jr.
When he saw the gunman
shoot at the woman's feet, Anthony “T. J.” Antell, Jr., age 35,
knew it was time to act. Unfortunately, his heroic intervention ended
in his own death and the wounding of the assailant's wife, Quinisha
Johnson. Outside the Arlington, Texas, Walgreen's drug store at which
she's employed, her husband, Ricci Bradden, a 22-year-old Army
private, was arguing with her about a selfie she'd posted of her
social media site when he slapped her and fired his pistol.
Retrieving his own sidearm from his car, Antell confronted Bradden,
but the latter swatted Antell's weapon from his hand and then shot
him. Bradden's wife was able to escape into the store. Antells' wife
witnessed her husband's death. Later, Bradden turned himself in to
authorities and is awaiting trial. (LINK 8)
2 Robert Ybarra
Robert Ybarra, age 81,
late of Detroit, Michigan, survived combat in Vietnam, only to lose
his life as a good Samaritan helping a man he thought was in trouble.
Returning home from a coffee run, Ybarra saw a car parked alongside
the road. The man inside wasn't in distress, though; he was drunk.
After fighting with Ybarra, the intoxicated man ran over him with his
car. Ybarra was tough. The burns to his body and his glass eye, both
consequences of his combat duty, showed that. Unfortunately, after a
day-long struggle, the old soldier succumbed to the injuries he
received while trying to assist the man he thought was a stranded
motorist in need of help. (LINK 9)
1 Kristi Clark and son
Carter
Kristi Clark
Near Franklin, Tennessee,
at approximately 9:00 p. m., a black sport-utility vehicle overturned
in a storm after sliding on black ice (a transparent coat of ice on a
paved surface). Kristi Clark, age 34, who's known for her good deeds,
took her 10-year-old son Carter with her to assist the motorist. As
they drew near the SUV, they were struck by a tractor-trailer. Carter
died at the scene. Clark later died at a local medical center. (LINK
10)
LINK 7:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-good-samaritan-killed-drunk-driver-met-20160218-story.html
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