Anthony Boone’s mangled SUV
A Mississippi man was killed in a car wreck with a semi-truck Monday
evening on a dark road near Jackson. His white SUV plunged off into the
embankment and became engulfed in flames, when a man he didn’t know
found him. That stranger’s face would be the last one he’d see before
taking his final breaths.
Anthony Boone was travelling alone that fatal night when
something went wrong on the drive that he would never recover from.
Police responded to the scene of the vehicle accident and had tried to
save the 37-year-old using all the training they had and even going
through 8 to 10 fire extinguishers to put out the blaze that was quickly
engulfing Boone.
Then came the moment of defeat, when the Jackson officers
realized that there was nothing more that they could do to save
Anthony’s life. They had tried everything, but God’s will for this man
was bigger than them, and it was his time to go. They began packing up
their equipment and preparing the scene for the coroner to come, when
one man emerged.
Sergeant William Bright had spent every ounce of energy and
willpower to save this driver’s life, before giving it to God. When all
had been done, he didn’t want the man to die alone, so casting his own
fears aside, he did what many other wouldn’t and went to this dying
man’s side.
The heroic officer grabbed Anthony’s hand. With whatever Anthony had
left in him, he clenched Bright’s hand back, literally holding on to
life through this stranger. Bright got down on his knees and began
praying for this dying man, ushering him into the afterlife with his
calming words of faith and reassurance. As he prayed, Anthony took his
last breaths, still holding Bright’s hand so he didn’t have to go alone.
Sergeant William Bright
“I think the good Lord knows that I tried everything that I
was humanly able to do,” Sgt. Bright said of that tragic night. The
officer’s wife, Sheekas Brown, knows her husband’s heart and is proud of
what he did for Anthony. “…I just praise God for his (Sgt. Bright’s)
profession and all the other men and women out there who are in law
enforcement who put their lives on the line every day,” Sheekas said.
William doesn’t consider himself a hero, he feels that he is
just a man of God and a cop who keeps his oath to protect and serve. “I
had never met that man before. I didn’t even know him, but he was a
human being. So it was my job to do what I did,” Sgt. Bright said.
The officer’s duty didn’t end with Anthony, he’s extended an
open offer to this victim’s family to reach out to him if they want to
talk about their loved one’s final moments, adding that he’s there to
comfort them as well.
An officer’s job often goes beyond the badge. Many have a
huge heart behind the uniform, which is the reason they’re in law
enforcement in the first place. Bright didn’t know if the other officers
there that night saw what he did for this man, hidden in a heap of
metal and flames. He didn’t do it for the attention, he did it for
another human so that he didn’t have to die alone and could go in
dignity, in the hands a loving man who didn’t even know him, but will
forever be connected to him.
h/t: [KXAN]
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