Homeless man who rescued deputy from deadly crash, reunited with family after they saw him on TV
Homeless man reunited with family after he was seen rescuing officer from fiery crash
FOX 26’s Natalie Hee catches up with a good Samaritan who rescued a deputy whose car caught fire during a deadly crash in northeast Houston. His estranged family heard what he did, and reunited with him after hearing of his heroism.
HOUSTON - One mother is dead, her two children injured and a deputy in the hospital after a deadly crash in northeast Houston. The Harris County Sheriff’s Office says the deputy was chasing a possible robbery suspect. The pursuit ended in a deadly crash involving a total of seven cars.
The crash ended at the corner of Laura Koppe Road and Lockwood Drive around 11 p.m. Wednesday.
BACKGROUND: Crash during chase in NE Houston leaves woman dead; 2 children, deputy hurt
What started as a call for an aggravated robbery at a CVS in northeast Houston, turned into a 90 mile-per-hour chase for the suspect. The pursuit ended in a deadly, fiery crash less than two miles away.
Authorities say the HCSO deputy crashed into a black Kia. Inside, a mother and her two young children. The mother was pronounced dead on the scene. Her 5-year-old and a 2-year-old were sent to the hospital. At least one of them is in critical condition.
Surveillance video from the Save Mart Mini Market where the crash happened captures the moment the deputy’s patrol car slammed into five other parked cars in the lot, then caught on fire.
The suspects fled. HPD says no arrests have been made.
53-year-old Johnny Walker is homeless and sleeps on the side of the mini-mart.
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He heard the crash Wednesday night and ran over with two other men to help pull the deputy from the burning car and physically carried him out to safety.
"I was on the other side of the fence, so I ran from that side to this side of the fence, and I got to that lady's car, the first car I saw. But then I saw the fire and I turned towards the officer to get in from the passenger side, I couldn’t get in from behind, and then I dove over the car and got in on the other side," Walker said.
Walker said the entire time, all he could think about was saving his life.
"Get him out of the car before it explodes. So we took him to the store and I was checking his neck and put my hand over his mouth and nose closely to see if he was breathing and he did," Walker said.
Not only did Walker save his life, but he also made sure the deputy stayed awake until medics could arrive.
"He let me know he was alright, and I told him to keep his eyes open, keep his eyes open, and I’m glad you’re alright," Walker said.
Walker said he remembered basic CPR from his high school days, more than 30 years ago.
His heroic actions may have also brought him some good karma.
Walker is homeless and has been since 2006. He calls his family often, but for the last 2.5 months, they haven’t heard from him.
On Christmas Eve, they filed a missing person's report.
In a miraculous outcome born from tragedy, it was his interview on the news that brought his family back to him.
His sister Monica Collins and their mother, Neal Martin saw Walker on TV and raced over from Cypress to search for him.
"As soon as we saw his face, we just drove out here just drove the whole area looking for him. We came to this corner and there my brother is," Collins said.
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Collins said her family worried Walker might’ve been dead after police said he was possibly involved in a stabbing incident.
Walker doesn’t have a cell phone, so Collins hasn’t been able to reach him for months.
"When we finally got the police report and we went to all the hospitals and the medical examiner confirmed they didn’t have any remains of him, we knew that there was hope," Collins said.
"I’m just so very thankful that everything’s coming together," Walker said.
Walker also found out Wednesday that he is now a grandfather. He was ecstatic when he heard the news.
His family’s now buying him clothes, food and helping him get the resources he needs to get better.