An 8-year-old boy trapped in a house fire in Asbury Park, New Jersey, jumped from a second-story window into the arms of two police officers and a neighbor. He was treated at a hospital for smoke inhalation and is reported to be doing fine.
Boy jumps from burning New Jersey home into arms of officers and neighbor
An 8-year-old boy escaped a house fire in Asbury Park, New Jersey, by jumping from a second-story window into the arms of two police officers and a neighbor waiting below. Body-camera video released by police shows the rescuers urging the child to jump as smoke poured from the home.
The fire broke out on a Monday morning in late August 2025. The boy was home alone while his mother was at work, according to News 12 New Jersey, as reported by CNN and WSOC-TV. Two people in a downstairs unit got out on their own.
The Asbury Park fire rescue
Asbury Park police officers DeWitt Bacon and John Walsh, along with neighbor Joseph Dunbar, gathered beneath the second-floor window where the boy was trapped by the flames. They called up to him and told him to jump, then caught him together and carried him away from the burning building.
Bacon said he understood the boy faced two bad options. “I’m just hoping that he trusts me enough to catch him,” he said.
The rescuers
Walsh, who attends the same church as the boy, said a deadly fire had happened across the street a few months earlier and he was determined not to see another. “Catching an 8-year-old wasn’t really on the agenda for the day,” he said. All three rescuers played competitive football, and Walsh compared the catch to “catching a punt on a football field.” After the catch, he said, “I said, let’s go, kid.”
Dunbar said he acted because he “couldn’t have nobody else dying on my watch.”
Walsh said he hoped the rescue showed residents that “they can trust us.”
Treatment and investigation
The boy was taken to a hospital for smoke inhalation and is now doing fine, according to the report. No deaths were reported. The cause of the fire was not immediately released.
Fire safety reminders
Fire officials generally advise families to keep working smoke alarms on every level of a home, plan two ways out of every room and practice that plan with children. If smoke blocks the way out, closing the door, staying low and signaling for help from a window can buy time until firefighters arrive. Children should know to call 911 and to follow the instructions of firefighters and police.
Source: WSOC-TV
