Nicholas Bostic, a 25-year-old from Lafayette, Ind., was hailed as a hero after saving the five youths. Bostic noticed a house on fire while driving around at night and risked his life—even jumping out of a window with a six-year-old in his arms—to save the occupants. Bostic had to be flown to nearby Indianapolis for treatment of severe smoke inhalation and a large gash to his right hand. She also suffered cuts, burns and blisters and spent several days in hospital. Bostic’s cousin Richard Stair set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for the pizza hero’s hospital bills, with an initial goal of US$100,000. Story continues below ad As of press time, the page had raised at least $516,000 in donations. “This kid is the real deal,” Stair wrote on the page. “Unfortunately, he has some serious injuries and will need help during his recovery.”
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An update posted on the campaign page by Stair on July 16 says Bostic is feeling better after the ordeal and is in good spirits. “The amount of support and donations is beyond anything we could have hoped for,” Stair wrote. In a press release from the Lafayette Police Department, authorities recounted how Bostic immediately sprang into action when he noticed the burning home. Bostic didn’t have a phone with him and knew that time was of the essence if anyone was trapped in the inferno. He made his way to the back door and called out to its occupants, to no response.
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“He considered the possibility that everyone had already evacuated,” the police statement said. “Not taking the chance that someone might still be inside, he decided to go inside.” Trending Stories
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Story continues below ad Upstairs, Bostic found a one-year-old baby and three teenagers, ages 13 to 18, who had been roused by his yelling. “For a minute I didn’t realize it, but my sister ran over with the baby in her arms and she was yelling for us to get up because it’s on fire,” 13-year-old Shaylee Barrett told the Purdue Exponent. “And for a minute I froze and laid there because I was confused. That’s when we went downstairs and Nick was downstairs helping us.” Bostic helped the four youths escape, but once they got outside he learned there was another six-year-old trapped inside.
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“Without hesitation, he ran back into the burning house,” police said. Bostic described the ground floor of the house as a “black lagoon” of smoke, according to police, and he had to crawl on the floor, feeling his way around the house. He told police he had an “internal dialogue” with himself about whether it was possible to get the last child out, but was determined not to give up, even though the house felt like “I was walking into an oven”. Story continues below ad
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Bostic heard the cries of a child in the blackness and used her voice to guide him. Once he got it, however, he couldn’t locate the back door in the smoke-filled room. He ran up the stairs where the smoke was less dense and “knocked open a window with his bare hand,” police wrote. Bostic jumped from the second-story window carrying the six-year-old and landed on his side to break their fall. “The 6-year-old was mostly uninjured,” the news release said.
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The parents of four of the five rescued youngsters – one of the teenagers was there for a sleepover – were out on a date when the fire started and returned home to find their home engulfed in flames and surrounded by emergency vehicles. David and Tiera Barrett expressed their gratitude to Bostic in an interview with the Exponent. “I literally told him he’s part of our family now,” David Barrett said. “And he was involved in it. Once we settle somewhere, we’ll invite him and his girlfriend over for dinner.” © 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
