Indiana’s heroic 25-year-old man is being honored for his bravery in saving three teens and two children from a house fire.
Nicholas “Nick” Bostic, a pizza delivery driver, was driving around 12:30 a.m. when he saw what looked like a small fire out front of a two-story house.
Nick stopped his car and flipped it in reverse to get a better view. He didn’t have his phone with him at the time, so he tried to wave down another passing driver, but with no luck.
The Good Samaritan yelled and finally entered the home. There was no smoke and the lights were on inside. The house looked as though it had been evacuated.
Nick yelled even more to see who could hear him, and was halfway up when he saw four people coming down the stairs.
The children’s parents, David and Tiera Barrett, had left about 30 minutes earlier for date night. Their 18-year old daughter had awakened the other children in the home to rescue them when she saw that their house was on fire.
Nick turned to go and walked with them through their back door, away from the house on fire.
“I asked them if anybody was left in there ― and that’s when they told me that the 6-year-old was,” he told ABC 7 Chicago.
Nick told everyone to stay there and ran back inside to check. He immediately went to the second level. He checked every room, from under beds to behind doors to around desks.
“Anywhere I could think,” he recalled. “I mean, I was high-tailing it, 110%. It was becoming difficult to see because of the bad smoke. … I don’t know how to explain it, but it was like I accepted I was going to probably die, right there, that night. It was a strange calm. You just got to work as fast as you can.”
Nick doesn’t know how long he had been looking but said it felt like “forever.” Then, he heard what sounded like crying coming from the first floor.
By the time he got downstairs, he couldn’t see where the voice was coming from, so he pulled his shirt up around his mouth, closed his eyes, and started reaching into the thick smoke. He reached the girl, which was a good thing.
Nick grabbed the child and placed her against his shoulder. He thought of getting out through the front or back door, but he couldn’t see them anymore because of the grey-black smoke.
He looked upstairs and saw some light. He remembered seeing a window in his second-floor bedroom, and thought that this might be the only way out.
Nick tried to break the glass in the window with his hand, but it bounced back. He tried again and was finally able to break through the pane.
Although he couldn’t see how far the drop was, he knew they had no choice.
Nick jumped and landed onto his right side, injuring both his backside, arm, ankle, and foot. The man did all he could to absorb the impact for the little girl, and his efforts paid off because she “was miraculously mostly uninjured,” police said in a news release.
Nick can be seen taking the girl to an officer at 12.36 a.m. in police footage. He exclaimed he needed oxygen and asked the baby if he was okay.
Police applied a tourniquet on his arm, which was bloody, and took him to Franciscan Health Hospital, Lafayette. He was later transferred from Lafayette to Eskenazi in Indianapolis.
Nick was treated after suffering severe smoke inhalation and severe cuts to his arm as a result of punching the window. Since then, he has been released.
Thankfully, all the home’s occupants also got out without serious injury. EMTs also responded to the call and saved Buffy, the dog of the family.
David and Tiera are grateful to Nick and their community for saving their children’s lives.
“I literally told him he’s now part of our family,” David told the Purdue Exponent. “And he was all on board with it. Once we get settled someplace, we’re going to invite him over and his girlfriend for dinner.”
According to fire officials, the fire started because of ashes that were placed on the porch and then emptied into a bucket.
At a Lafayette Aviators match against the Chillicothe Paints on August 2, the local hero will receive a special award. Tickets purchased with the code FUND2022 will go to a GoFundMe account to help cover Nick’s medical expenses and bills.
A Facebook fundraiser was also set up for Nick, and Richard Stair, his cousin, started a GoFundMe second page.
“Like I keep saying, it’s not like I’m some superstar hero,” Nick said. “I was at the right place, the right time, and, I guess, the right person.”
Here’s the police footage from that night.
Here’s the video to go along with the story. pic.twitter.com/TvZ5wzCg1f
— LafayetteINPolice (@LafayetteINPD) July 15, 2022
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