January 24, 2007
HEROISM FILTERS SOUTH
24 hours before NYC Subway hero Wesley Autrey was the toast of the State Of The Union, a similar act of heroism by a homeless man and his two friends played out less than half a mile from the Capitol where Autrey would receive his standing ovation. When 53-year-old William Slaughter, a yacht crewman, was returning home late in the evening on Monday and wearing slippery new dress shoes, he lost his footing on the dock next to his houseboat in D.C.'s Washington Channel. Encumbered by his heavy wool coat, unable to attract anyone's attention at 10:30pm, and starting to lose muscle control in the 38 degree water, Slaughter began to think he was going to drown just yards from his front door.
Just then, he could not believe his eyes: Three men were ambling along the street by the Washington Marina, separated from him by a seven-foot-high iron fence.
He yelped for them, and one, aided by the others, climbed over the fence and ran over to Slaughter, who was struggling to keep his head above water.
Floyd Lipscomb, who police said is homeless, tried to pull Slaughter out of the channel. But he did not have the strength to pull Slaughter and his heavy wool coat out of the water, Slaughter said last night from his room at George Washington University Hospital.
So Lipscomb held on tight to Slaughter's arm and told him: " 'You're not going to die tonight. I'm going to hold on to you. I got you,' " Slaughter said.
The two other men, also homeless, identified by police as Duke "Showtime" Kelley and DeLeon Butler, alerted officers that a man had fallen into the water in the 1100 block of Maine Avenue. Slaughter feared he might drown right next to where he lived, on a houseboat christened Finished Business.
Slaughter said he thinks he lost consciousness a few times while Lipscomb waited for help. But Lipscomb never let him go under, he said.
Soon the two other homeless men Kelley and Butler returned with Harbor Patrol officer Hilliard Dean, who they also boosted over the high fence to the marina. Together, Dean and Lipscomb pulled Slaughter out of the channel and an ambulance delivered him to George Washington University Hospital, where he is recovering.
Floyd Lipscomb and his two companions, "Showtime" Kelley and DeLeon Butler, are certified heroes. William Slaughter would like to thank them for saving his life, but nobody can find them. While Harbor Patrolman Hilliard Dean concetrated on getting Slaughter into the waiting ambulance, the three homeless men slipped away, back to their lives on the winter streets of our nation's capital.
Tagged:Posted by Lexiphane at January 24, 2007 2:00 PM
| Current EventsTrackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.lexiphane.com/mt/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/1078