Featured Image Credit: WESH 2 News/@LafayetteINPD/Twitter
Topics: US News
Tom Sanders
A heroic pizza deliveryman who saved five kids from a burning building has been rewarded by seeing his NASCAR dreams come true.
25-year-old Nicholas Bostic was driving along a street in Lafayette, Indiana, just after midnight last week when he suddenly came across a residential house engulfed in flames. With no firefighters or emergency personnel in sight, Nick took the initiative and ran into the burning home to see if anyone was inside.
Although his initial calls were left unanswered, after exploring the house Nick found four children aged between one to 18 sleeping upstairs, and quickly woke them up and escorted them to safety.
But after getting outside, one of the children informed Nick there was a six-year-old girl still trapped inside the house, and so he rushed back inside to save her.
As he made his way through the burning home, the air becoming thick with smoke, he eventually heard a child crying from a downstairs area. Although he could barely see through the smog, Nick tied his shirt around his mouth to protect himself and took the plunge into the inferno to find her.
Advert
After locating the little girl and scooping her up in his arms, Nick found the black smoke had become so thick he could no longer locate the door, and so he ran back upstairs with the child and leaped heroically from the second-floor window, making sure to land on his side so the child was protected from impact.
Following the incident Nick became lauded as a local hero, and though he was rushed to hospital after suffering from smoke inhalation and 'gravely cutting his right arm', the community came together to support him and quickly raised more than $500,000 to cover his medical bills.
Now, Nick is being honoured as a special guest at Sunday’s NASCAR race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Speaking to TMZ, Nick said he doesn’t know exactly what’s in store for him this weekend when he turns up to receive the VIP treatment, but hopes he can fulfil a lifelong dream to get behind the wheel of a race car.
Nick says he’s always wanted to be a professional driver, and hopes he may be able to use the opportunity to get his foot in the door of the motorsports industry.
“If they could actually let someone like me have a go [behind the wheel], they’d find there’s a lot of undiscovered talent out there,” Nick said.
“Singers have shows like The Voice to help them get discovered but there’s nothing like that for racing people.”
Elsewhere in the interview Nick provided an update on his injuries and showed off his new scars, and let everyone know that despite being riddled with stitches, he was well on his way to recovery.
If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via [email protected]