Houston homeless man, who saved a cop, reunited with family after they saw him on the news

Houston homeless man, who saved a cop, reunited with family after they saw him on the news.
Houston homeless man, who saved a cop, reunited with family after they saw him on the news. Via: GoFundMe.

The family of a Houston-area homeless man believed he had died in a stabbing around Christmastime, until they recognized him on the local news being praised for saving a Sheriff’s deputy from a burning car.

Johnny Walker has been homeless since 2006 and hadn’t been in contact with his family for roughly three months. The family had been told he likely died in a stabbing and had been searching hospitals and morgues for weeks until his sister, Monica Collins, saw him being interviewed about the crash.

The collision occurred when the deputy was chasing an armed robbery suspect and his vehicle hit a woman’s black Kia at an intersection. Five more vehicles were struck in the aftermath leading to a seven-car pile-up.

The deputy’s car was engulfed in flames on impact. Walker, who saw the crash take place from nearby, rushed to the scene.

“I ran out here to see what it is and I saw a lot of cars, but I paid attention to the fire. My instincts were to go to that car and help him out, because he was crushed in on both sides,” Walker explained.

Walker explained his thought process in such an intense situation “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.”

Without Walker’s quick thinking and heroic actions, the deputy would have almost certainly died.

Walker’s only regret is that he couldn’t do more to help. “I tried to help that lady. She passed though,” he said at the time. “I’m just thinking about them little kids.”

Walker’s sister has set up a GoFundMe to help him get back on his feet.

“He’s a good hearted person that has been through a lot of hard times,” wrote Collins. “Our goal is to help him find resources for counseling and a home.”

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