Lafayette Times

Heroic Actions of Lafayette Citizen Saves the Lives of Several Children!

Nicholas Bostic’s heroic actions saved lives.  His selflessness exhibited when he rushed into a burning Lafayette home to save children trapped inside is inspiring, and he has impressed many with his courage, tenacity, and steadfast calmness in the face of such perilous danger.  The Lafayette Police Department, the Lafayette Fire Department, and the Honorable Mayor Tony Roswarski are eternally grateful for Nicholas’s intervention and would like to publicly recognize him for his actions.  On August 2nd, during National Night Out at the Aviators game, Nicholas will be honored, and we invite you all to attend.  

Proceeds from the ticket sales will be donated to Nicholas’s GoFundMe page.  Use promo code FUND2022 when purchasing tickets to save $2.00, and $4.00 of the ticket price will be donated. Ticket Sales Lafayette Aviators Merchandise. Chillicothe Paints vs. Aviators (lafayettebaseball.com)

Lafayette Police Department Lt Randy Sherer has released the following account of the incident after Mr. Bostic graciously granted an interview:

On July 11th, 2022, at approximately 12:30 a.m., the Lafayette Police Department and Lafayette Fire Department received reports of a house fire in the 2200 block of Union Street. When officers arrived, the house was fully engulfed in flames, and the intensity of the fire prevented emergency personnel from entering the residence. Information was gathered that a 6-year-old child was possibly still inside the home, and emergency personnel began to hastily attempt to combat the fire to attempt a rescue.

At approximately 12:36 a.m., a male, who had entered the home prior to emergency personnel arriving, jumped through a window of the second-story house and landed on the ground with the 6-year-old child who had been trapped inside. The male, later identified as 25-year-old Nicholas Bostic of Lafayette, was seriously injured during the incident- suffering from severe smoke inhalation and gravely cutting his right arm. The 6-year-old child was miraculously mostly uninjured.

Nicholas’s injuries required that he be flown to Indianapolis for treatment, but yesterday he had recovered enough to speak with me on the phone. Nicholas walked me through the incident describing it to me in detail. What he described was nothing short of courageous and heroic…

Nicholas happened to be driving by the 2200 block of Union Street when he noticed a house on fire. He immediately stopped in the roadway, threw his car in reverse, turned around, and pulled into the driveway. He couldn’t call 911 and didn’t want to waste time trying to find someone who could call it in. He knew he had to act. He ran around to the back of the home and was able to open the back door. He began yelling inside, attempting to alert the occupants that the house was on fire. He didn’t receive an answer and contemplated the possibility that everyone had already evacuated. Not taking the chance that someone could still be inside, he decided to go in. He walked through the house, calling out the danger, and eventually made his way up the stairs. There he found four kids, ranging in age from 1 to 18. His yells of warning roused them from their sleep, and he helped them escape from the house.

Once they were outside, Nicholas learned about the six-year-old still being inside the home. Without hesitation, he ran back into the burning house. Not knowing where the child was, he went to the last place where he located the other children- the upstairs. He frantically searched the rooms, even looking under the beds, but it was to no avail-he could not find the child. He started down the stairs but was immediately turned back. He described looking down the stairwell into a “black lagoon” of smoke and thought it impossible to go that way. He moved to a window to exit the house when he heard a child’s cry coming from downstairs. Nicholas told me about an inner dialog he had with himself. He knew he was there to get that child out, and even though the fire and smoke downstairs frightened him, he would not quit.

Nicholas wrapped his shirt around his mouth and nose and plunged into the blackness. He described it as so black that he couldn’t see anything in front of him, and the heat from the fire made it seem as if he was walking into an oven. Nicholas crawled on the ground, feeling in front of him with his hands, and used the child’s cries to help him locate her in the darkness. Once he had her, he attempted to recall from memory where the back door was, but he couldn’t find it. However, Nicholas was able to find his way back to the stairs. He ran up the stairs carrying the child and broke open a window by punching it with his bare hand. He hurriedly began trying to exit the burning house, but, in his haste, the child’s leg became entangled in the pull cord to the blinds. Nicholas recognized that he was rushing and calmed himself down. He untangled the string and jumped from the window, ensuring he landed on the side where he was not holding the child. He picked himself up off the ground and carried the girl to safety.

Original source can be found here.