LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Just as police and firefighters learned there was a man and a child inside a burning house, Nick Bostic appears backlit by the flames walking towards first responders with the 6-year-old in his arms.
The 25-year-old Indiana man is being hailed as a hero by local officials after entering a home engulfed in flames last week and saving the lives of five children trapped inside the burning house in Lafayette, Indiana.
Police body-worn video released July 14 shows an officer taking the crying girl from his arms as Bostic – winded, wheezing and wounded – sits down on the curb, and says, “I need oxygen.”
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In the video, Bostic just came from inside the burning house where he saved five people. An officer helps Bostic to his feet and escorted him to the other side of the street, where Bostic lies down in the grass while an officer applies a tourniquet to Bostic’s right arm, which is bleeding, the video shows.
“I can barely breathe,” Bostic said. On the video, Bostic asks, “Is the baby OK? Please tell me the baby’s OK.”
Someone off camera assures him the girl is fine.
Bostic got four people out of the house about 12:30 a.m. on July 11, then went back into the inferno to find the 6-year-old girl upstairs, police said earlier in the week. The fire trapped Bostic and the girl on the second floor, and he jumped from the upstairs window with the girl in his arm.
The girl only suffered a minor cut to her foot, police said earlier in the week.
The accidental fire started on the front porch and is believed to have been caused by ashes emptied into a bucket before they were completely extinguished, according to the fire department’s investigation.
Bostic suffered smoke inhalation and a cut to his arm, resulting in a trip to Eskenazi Hospital in Indianapolis.
Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski, the Lafayette Fire Department and Lafayette Police Department will recognize Bostic’s actions publicly at an Aviators game – part of a summer collegiate baseball league – on Aug. 2, which also happen to be National Night Out, when law enforcement and communities come together to recognize their beneficial relationships.
Proceeds from the ticket sales will be donated to Bostic’s online fundraising campaign.
