A Texas man paralyzed below the waist was pulled from a burning car by a heroic woman, and then set out to track down the previously unidentified good Samaritan so he could properly thank him.
Dennis Brown of Dallas praised Tammi Arrington after the Mississippi resident, who was visiting a friend in the Lone Star State, sprang into action when Brown’s rental car suddenly caught fire Sunday morning.
He dragged the 58-year-old man out of the car before flames completely engulfed the vehicle, which was equipped with a hand-held control device that allowed him to drive.
“I’m realizing the kind of danger I was in,” Brown told the Post on Wednesday night. “If it wasn’t for Tammi, I don’t know how I would have gotten out or how close I would have been burned or I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for Tammi.”
The two were able to reconnect Wednesday morning, days after Brown forgot to ask her name immediately after the ordeal.
Dennis Brown’s rental car caught fire when Tammi Arrington jumped into action to rescue him. FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth, /YouTube
Arrington, 42, insisted to the Post Wednesday night that he was simply in the right place at the right time when he saw the burning car.
Instead of going with her friend to Costco that morning, she decided to stay at the new house her friend had just helped her friend move into.
When he looked out the front window, he saw part of the car on fire.
Mississippi resident Tammi Arrington was visiting a friend in Texas the day she rescued Dennis Brown. Tammi Murrah Arrington? Facebook
Dennis Brown’s car suddenly caught fire in Dallas, Texas. FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth, /YouTube
He ran outside and saw that all the doors were closed, initially believing it to be empty.
“I saw his head move a little bit from the headrest and then I realized there was someone there,” Arrington said.
He ran to the car and opened the door, urging Brown to flee the fire.
Dennis Brown thanked and praised Tammi Arrington, saying that if it wasn’t for her, he didn’t know if he “would have come out.” FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth, /YouTube
Tammi Arrington said she saw “a head move a little from the headrest” as soon as she approached the vehicle and realized Dennis Brown was still in the car. Tammi Murrah Arrington?Facebook
“She said, ‘Get out of the car,’” said Brown, who was paralyzed after he was shot at age 22. “I told him, ‘I can’t, I’m in a wheelchair.’”
He originally took the wheelchair, but soon realized he didn’t have enough time to assemble it.
Arrington, just 5-foot-3, said he dragged Brown out and then placed him in the wheelchair after assembling it.
Start your day with everything you need to know
Morning Report offers the latest news, videos, photos and more.
The two walked away from the burning car until local firefighters extinguished the flames.
Brown said that in all the chaos, he never learned her name.
While Brown’s loved ones later came to thank Arrington at the home he was visiting, they also did not learn his name.
When she tried to visit him, no one was home and Arrington was gone, she said.
“I didn’t thank him properly,” Brown said.
Brown agreed to be interviewed by Fox 4 in hopes that the news would reach the mysterious good Samaritan.
“I would like to thank her for her heroic act,” he told the station. “She put herself in danger to save me. She dragged me out. I would like to thank you.”
Arrington’s friend saw the news and told her.
He contacted Fox 4 and the station hooked them up.
“The first thing I said was, ‘Tammi, this is Dennis, the guy in the wheelchair,’” Brown said. “We started laughing, man, we just started laughing.”
Dennis Brown and Tammi Arrington were able to connect on a call, where Brown finally thanked her. FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth, /YouTube
Brown plans to take Arrington and her friend out for dinner the next time he’s in town along with Brown’s grateful mother, Julia.
But Arrington doesn’t think he deserves much credit, if any, for his heroism.
“I’m glad he’s OK,” Arrington said, later adding, “Any human response — I think if they had seen that, they would have done the same thing.”
Categories: Trending
Source: vtt.edu.vn