A.J. Slater

A.J. Slater rescued Walker Wills and attempted to rescue JoLynn Wills from burning, Lakeland, Florida, November 7, 2024. In the evening, Walker, 3, and his sister, JoLynn, 5, remained in their child-safety seats inside their father’s burning car after an accident in which the car left the street and came to rest in nearby. As he was driving toward the scene, Slater, 30, a heavy equipment operator, saw fire at the car’s front end, stopped his car, and ran to the driver’s side of the car, where he saw the father on the ground. The father, who had lower-body injuries from the crash, called for Slater to help the children. Slater opened the rear, driver’s-side door and leaned inside, where he saw Walker’s knees in the closest car seat through the thick smoke as flames burned at the dashboard. While unbuckling Walker, Slater saw JoLynn’s clothing as she sat on the opposite side of the car. Slater removed Walker from the car and put him down in the grass nearby. Slater then climbed in through the door and sat between the car seats as he struggled to remove JoLynn from her seat as the fire was spreading toward the front-seat headrests. Slater briefly exited the car, then returned inside and continued trying to free JoLynn amid extreme heat that caused burns to Slater’s hands, right shoulder, and right ear until the worsening conditions repelled him from the car. Responding firefighters extinguished the fire; JoLynn, who remained inside the car, did not survive. Walker, who was burned on his face and right arm, was hospitalized for 11 days. Slater, who also initially was hospitalized for 11 days, undergoing two skin graft surgeries to help his hands heal, was recovering from his injuries.

2024-0000391-10477