EASTMAN, Ga. — People in Eastman are calling one man a hero after he pulled a Bleckley County deputy from a wrecked car. Deputy Chris Flagg said the actions of Bobby Butler were equal to what we see from first responders every day.
Butler was trying to cross Cochran Highway from Old Dodge High Road to Log Cabin Drive in Eastman. He said he was careful, but that he never saw Deputy Flagg's cruiser coming.
“I looked left, looked right, and thought I was clear until I came across,” Butler said.
Flagg said he saw Butler but assumed he was going to stop.
“I figured he was going to get in the turning lane and wait for me to just come on through, and he said he never saw me, which I believe because I could look through the truck and see him not seeing me,” Flagg said.
By the time he could slow down, it was too late and he hit Butler’s passenger side door. The pair ended up in a ditch. After Butler escaped his car and shook his dizziness, he reacted quickly to Flagg’s wreck.
“I was kind of in a daze and I heard somebody yell get me out of here,” Butler said.
Flagg said the car was beginning to fog up and he was worried it may catch on fire. Butler tried to beat the glass of the windshield in with his fists, but couldn’t break it. He used the only thing available to break the glass, an RTIC 45 cooler.
“I know I hit it at least, at least 10 times. That cooler had a case of waters in it, but it was pretty heavy, and them RTICs 45 coolers, they ain’t light just to begin with on empty,” Butler said.
Butler’s mother, Pam arrived to the scene and witnessed her son’s heroics as he and another man pulled Flagg out of the car.
“Not knowing how he's feeling, you know, he just stepped in and helped a man out of his vehicle, and that, to me, is a hero,” Pam Butler said.
Flagg agreed, saying Butler’s actions were like those you see from first responders.
“This is what I’m supposed to be doing. I was supposed to be helping somebody out in the wreck and, you know, here I am needing him,” Flagg said.
Butler said he’s not a hero, just someone who did the right thing.
I know I was bruised up pretty good, but I'm gonna help somebody else out before I get looked at. That's just part of my heart, I reckon,” Butler said.
Butler walked away from the accident with a few bruises and scratches, and Deputy Flagg broke his leg and needed staples. Flagg is recovering at Navicent Health in Macon.