Politics
Newark mayor Cory Booker helps rescue neighbors from fire
Newark mayor., Corey Booker. PHOTO/File
The mayor of New Jersey’s largest city said Friday he feared for his life as he helped rescue a neighbor from a fire before firefighters had arrived.
Newark Mayor Cory Booker, speaking on “CBS This Morning,” described how he returned home Thursday night and saw his neighbor’s home engulfed in flames. A woman was screaming that her daughter was still inside.
The mayor’s security detail tried to drag him away, but Booker told them that the woman was going to die, Detective Alex Rodriguez told CBS. “Without thinking twice, he ran into the flames and rescued this young lady,” Rodriguez said.
Booker said he feared for his life as the kitchen erupted in the flames and he couldn’t find the woman. The woman called out, he said, and Booker grabbed her from a bed and threw her over his shoulder.
“I punched through the kitchen and the flames and that’s when I saw Detective Rodriguez. He grabbed her as well and we got her down the stairs and we both just collapsed outside,” Booker said.
The mayor described it as a “come to Jesus moment.”
Booker said he couldn’t breathe after he got outside. He was treated and released from a hospital after suffering from smoke inhalation and second-degree burns.
