25 year old Nicholas Bostic was delivering pizza's around midnight when he noticed the flames at a house he was driving by. He could have called 911 and kept driving but he also stopped to help. When no one answered the door he broke down the back door and ran in.
He woke four children, ages one to 18, who were sleeping upstairs. Bostic helped them outside and they told him a six-year-old may still be inside, so he ran back in “without hesitation.” He heard the child crying downstairs and wrapped his shirt around his mouth and nose to retrieve the child in what he called a “black lagoon” of smoke.
Bostic couldn’t see the door, so he ran back upstairs, broke a second-story window and jumped while holding the six-year-old, according to the Lafayette Police Department. They report that the child was “miraculously mostly uninjured,” while Bostic was lifted to a hospital in Indianapolis where he was treated for severe smoke inhalation and a cut on his arm before being released. “Nicholas Bostic’s heroic actions saved lives,” the police shared in a statement. “His selflessness during this incident is inspiring, and he has impressed many with his courage, tenacity and steadfast calmness in the face of such perilous danger.”