Teen Saves Disabled Neighbor From Burning Home
By: Josh Berry, KARK 4 News
Updated: September 14, 2012
A teenager saved a life Sunday as he helped a disabled man from a burning home in Dover (Pope County).
The homeowner claimed had it not been for the teen's quick action, he wouldn't be here to share his story.
From the looks of the home, you can imagine why he's calling his teenage neighbor a hero.
Robert Lewis' house is barely recognizable.
"Yes, it's a junk pile now isn't it?" Lewis asks.
An early morning fire left him with nothing but a pair of shorts and a shoe.
"Everything that I own is burnt up," he says
He even had to borrow a shirt from a neighbor.
Sunday however, he's not cursing what he doesn't have; he's praising what he has left.
"It's nice to know I got a young man that's a hero," Lewis says.
At four-thirty on Sunday morning, Lewis was watching television. He had no clue his house was on fire.
"That's when the banging started happening on the door," he explains.
A neighborhood teenager who happened to see it nearly had to break down the door.
"He got me outta the house!," says Lewis.
Jordan Segovia managed to save Lewis, who's an amputee, two cars and one more valuable possession, Lewis' dog Cracker.
When Segovia went back home to a concerned grandma, he told her what happened.
"He was all pumped up you know," Angie Young said. "He said 'I didn't know what I was doing, I was just running and doing it!"
He had something else to show her though.
"He said uh here... I said what is it? I said oh my gosh Jordan how'd you do this?"
No more than a half hour before the fire, Jordan was pulled over on his way home.
"I gave him a lecture and wrote him a ticket and let him on his way," said Corporal Perry Whitbey with the Dover Marshal's Office.
Cpl. Whitbey was the first authority to respond to the fire.
"And I arrived on scene finding Mr. Jordan helping Mr. Lewis out of the house in his wheelchair."
So, he did what he could to show his appreciation for what he said saved a man's life.
"I felt that he deserved a warning at this point," Cpl. Whitbey said. "He's a real good kid."
"He'd do anything for anybody," Segovia's grandmother shared.
And all the neighbors agree, that's clear from what he did Sunday morning.
For someone who has nothing much more than his chair and a beloved dog, getting out of a speeding ticket is better than just a thank-you.
"Oh yes, I'm glad he did that," Lewis said.
The fire department is investigating this as a crime, neighbors seem to think it was arson.
The homeowner claimed had it not been for the teen's quick action, he wouldn't be here to share his story.
From the looks of the home, you can imagine why he's calling his teenage neighbor a hero.
Robert Lewis' house is barely recognizable.
"Yes, it's a junk pile now isn't it?" Lewis asks.
An early morning fire left him with nothing but a pair of shorts and a shoe.
"Everything that I own is burnt up," he says
He even had to borrow a shirt from a neighbor.
Sunday however, he's not cursing what he doesn't have; he's praising what he has left.
"It's nice to know I got a young man that's a hero," Lewis says.
At four-thirty on Sunday morning, Lewis was watching television. He had no clue his house was on fire.
"That's when the banging started happening on the door," he explains.
A neighborhood teenager who happened to see it nearly had to break down the door.
"He got me outta the house!," says Lewis.
Jordan Segovia managed to save Lewis, who's an amputee, two cars and one more valuable possession, Lewis' dog Cracker.
When Segovia went back home to a concerned grandma, he told her what happened.
"He was all pumped up you know," Angie Young said. "He said 'I didn't know what I was doing, I was just running and doing it!"
He had something else to show her though.
"He said uh here... I said what is it? I said oh my gosh Jordan how'd you do this?"
No more than a half hour before the fire, Jordan was pulled over on his way home.
"I gave him a lecture and wrote him a ticket and let him on his way," said Corporal Perry Whitbey with the Dover Marshal's Office.
Cpl. Whitbey was the first authority to respond to the fire.
"And I arrived on scene finding Mr. Jordan helping Mr. Lewis out of the house in his wheelchair."
So, he did what he could to show his appreciation for what he said saved a man's life.
"I felt that he deserved a warning at this point," Cpl. Whitbey said. "He's a real good kid."
"He'd do anything for anybody," Segovia's grandmother shared.
And all the neighbors agree, that's clear from what he did Sunday morning.
For someone who has nothing much more than his chair and a beloved dog, getting out of a speeding ticket is better than just a thank-you.
"Oh yes, I'm glad he did that," Lewis said.
The fire department is investigating this as a crime, neighbors seem to think it was arson.
