Meet this homeless hero in the interview below.
Video Credit: FOX31 Denver
A homeless man did a heroic act and is being called a hero after he jumped into danger and rescue people from a fiery multi-vehicle crash that shut down the interstate in Colorado Thursday.
According to the Lakewood police, the crash happened when a semi-truck traveling eastbound at a high rate of speed and hits more than a dozen other vehicles.
According to NBC News, the whole incident happened on a stretch of Denver, Colorado, interstate on April 25. Video blogger Josh McCutchen had a camera trained on him as he drove down I-70.
Suddenly, a semi flashed passed him. “All the sudden that semi truck just about blew the doors off the side of my vehicle,” he said.
“I was just looking back like, ‘What the heck was that? Where did that come from?’ And then I looked forward and just see plumes of black smoke.”
The driver of the semi, 23-year-old Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederos, fell down into traffic, killing four people and injuring many more in a fiery crash. And one man, panhandler Darin Barton was watching the whole thing.
However, KDVR reported that Barton took immediate action instead of just staring at the blaze in stunned horror.
“As soon as it rolled over, it just caught on fire,” he said, describing the semi. “And I just dropped my sign, took off running.”
“As soon as I saw flames, I headed under the bridge, grabbed three or four people out of a couple of cars.” Though most were trying to escape the burning, Barton emphasized that he wasn’t the only one trying to help.
Other people also joined him to rescue the injured. “I just did what I hoped anybody would’ve done if I was sitting down there,” he said.
Barton said that he had an accident in 2014 in an incident involving a light-rail car, due to this tragedy he became homeless.
A man named Dan Bass has started a GoFundMe campaign to aid Barton. The current goal is $10,000.
“Homeless Hero Darin Barton was on the corner panhandling when the accident occurred and ran into the flames and successfully saved the lives of multiple individuals who were trapped in their vehicles,” he wrote. “This hero not only deserves the support but needs it!
“I have this man’s information in order for him to receive any donations. If you’d like to personally thank him he will be on that same corner most likely every day.”
KDVR has also created an Amazon wish list filled with gift cards to fast food restaurants and prepaid Visa cards for Barton’s benefit. The news station will confirm that Barton receives any gift given for him.
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