Don’t we used the word “hero” a bit too often nowadays? Like “racist”, “sexist”, “phobic”, the overuse of hero has watered down its meaning. It doesn’t mean you are a hero if you are grossly obese and sell records while half naked. Looking at you Lizzo, or maybe not looking at you. There’s nothing heroic about being gay or trans, just like there is nothing heroic about being a highly paid professional athlete. There’s nothing heroic about burning down cities in the name of BLM, and there’s nothing heroic about standing in front of a green-screen and pretending to be a superhero. The real heroes walk amongst us every day, and we rarely notice. Cops, firefighters, first responders, military, even over the road truck drives. You know, the people that rush into a crisis situation when the majority of people are wetting their diapers. Or the people that are willing to drive twenty hours straight, so you have something on the grocery shelves despite bare-shelves-Biden. Those are heroes. Those are the people that should be held up. Recently an officer in Texas stared down one of mother nature’s most terrifying phenomena to save his furry partner and friend. Now that’s a hero. Check this out.
The tornado that touched down in Deer Park, Texas, on Jan. 24 may have ripped through stone and metal, but it ultimately found a bond it couldn’t break.
Footage showing Deer Park Police Officer Joel Nitchman running back to his squad car mid-tornado for his furry partner, K-9 Roni, has gone viral.
Watch as K-9 Officer Joel Nitchman of the Deer Park, TX Police Dept. races to rescue his #dog Roni as the EF3 #tornado hits on Tue. As he said, "Any handler would have done the same for their K-9 partner." Very happy that both are safe!#dogsarelove
đŸ“¹@DEERPARKTXGOV pic.twitter.com/1jrI8fQuzn— Mike Seidel (@mikeseidel) January 26, 2023
Anyone that has spent any time in the Midwest or South can tell you, tornadoes suck. Unpredictable, destructive, and often deadly, you simply don’t mess around when a twister is on the ground, or you might wind up in Oz, or the morgue. Not this time mother nature, not without my buddy!
KHOU reported that narcotics K-9 Roni and Nitchman, who have worked together to protect the community for over five years, had completed training and returned to the DPP station when the afternoon sky turned ominously dark.
Roni was still in his kennel in the rear of the squad car when visibility dropped to near-zero and winds began whipping debris, even moving a metal fence, thereby blocking the entrance of the station.
Nitchman, who told KHOU that Roni has “put himself in harm’s way for me before,” knew he had to return the favor, noting, “The thought of debris, or the car flipping over … I couldn’t do that to him. I couldn’t have him out there during that.”
Despite the debris flying in his face, lightning strikes and blinding wind and rain, Nitchman pried the door open. Roni is a dog, but his isn’t stupid so he was having no part of his pal’s escape plan. After some coaxing, officer and pup high tailed it to safety.
“I love that dog. He’s my hip attachment almost every day of the week,” said Nitchman. “He’s a part of our family. We can’t leave a loved one like that. There’s no way I was going to leave him like that.
How many among us would show that type of bravery in the face of a tornado to save another person, no less an animal? I’m afraid my cat would have to be on his own. that’s why I’m not a hero, and neither are you. Joel Nitchman didn’t hesitate to rush back into the face of danger to assist his partner. That’s what a hero is, and now both officers are alive and together because of his efforts.
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