The Good Samaritan: Man, Friends Save NC Deputy from Fiery Crash in Bertie County

BERTIE COUNTY – Driving home from college on a rainy night, a young man in his friends were following behind a Bertie County Sheriffs Deputy when the law enforcement officer received a call, attempted to turn around to respond to it, and lost control of his vehicle on the wet road. The cruiser shot off into the woods, smacking right into the trees, and caught fire.

Luckily for the deputy, the group of young 20-somethings that witnessed it sprung into action. The deputy suffered broken bones, and wasn’t moving, when the 22 year old Dajour Keemer, his girlfriend (who was driving), and his cousin approached the smoking car. And not a moment too soon:

After the Keemer and the other Good Samaritans pulled the deputy from the car, it burst into flames. They saved his life, which Keemer describes as “a blessing.”

From WITN:

“The lights on the car were out because when he hit the tree it busted the radiator, killed the battery, everything,” Keemer said. “If it wasn’t for us seeing it – we probably wouldn’t have noticed him.” […]

Keemer said the deputy shouted for help and they ran to find him unable to get out of the car.

“He tried to pull himself up, that’s when he noticed that he had broken bones,” Keemer said. “So he couldn’t move, so he told me to [grab him] and I pulled him out and we fell into the ditch. And as soon as we touched the ground, that’s when the car burst into flames.”

Keemer said the deputy shouted for help and they ran to find him unable to get out of the car.

“He tried to pull himself up, that’s when he noticed that he had broken bones,” Keemer said. “So he couldn’t move, so he told me to [grab him] and I pulled him out and we fell into the ditch. And as soon as we touched the ground, that’s when the car burst into flames.”

Keemer said they moved him back further to safety while Stephenson was on the phone with dispatch the whole time. Stephenson said it took about 10 minutes for an ambulance to come while bullets that caught on fire popped.

“In that moment, my first thought was ‘I can’t let this man die in front of me,’” Keemer said. “We’re here now… we just got to take action.” […]”

The quick thinking witnesses saved his life, so that he may return to his family, instead of what may have been a tragic alternative. How one reacts in such high intensity situations can vary from frozen inaction, to wanton neglect, to heroism. Keemer and his friends demonstrated the latter, and likely didn’t think twice about protecting or saving someone in trouble. Such is the result of valuing human life.

Now, we would be remiss if we didn’t point out that this is not to the narrative many would expect to hear after the last year or so in this country. If you briefly caught some of the notable factors — late night, confused, dangerous interaction between law enforcement officer and young black coeds; a burning deputy’s car; and, ending with one in the hospital — you’d be forgiven if your mind jumped to conclusions it’s been trained to make over multiple incidents since May of 2020. And you’d be completely wrong.

The fact that Keemer and his friends upended that narrative with their laudable actions is almost as powerful as saving that man’s life.

A young black man (trying to make it in the rap game, no less) going out of his way, risking harm to himself, to save a police officer after a year of ‘F the Police/Defund the Police/ACAB/Death to Pigs’ cultural upheavals? It’s a great antidote to the poison of Leftist and urban social justice movements that dehumanize law enforcement at every turn, som even urging their assassination.

To wit, this is screenshot of comments on a Youtube video of Keemer’s post-save commentary:

Keemer and his friends saw a man in need of help, and acted accordingly. They should be commended, of course, but also celebrated for restoring some hope in humanity after a trailing year that offered too much of the opposite.

And — not mentioned in the coverage, but likely on your mind — is that they were raised to value life in this way. Raised by parents to do the right thing.