‘Heroic’ UPS worker saves boy from vicious attack over his sneakers

‘He was very heroic. He jumped in and handled it like it was his own kid,’ witness says

Surveillance video from a street in New York City shows a UPS driver intervening as a teen was attacked by two others who ended up stealing his sneakers.

The violent altercation took place in the neighbourhood of Chelsea on the western side of Manhattan, with video footage showing two people in black chasing down a third teen, punching and kicking him as he falls to the ground and they remove his Nike Air Force 1s.

UPS driver Christopher McCall stepped in when he saw what was taking place.

“I yelled back, ‘Really? That’s all you want? You wanted his sneakers?’” he told CBS New York.

The 17-year-old on the ground was losing consciousness.

“He said, ‘I can’t breathe,’ and I said, ‘Can’t breathe?’ And he said, ‘I’m a diabetic,’” Mr McCall added.

Surveillance footage shows Mr McCall using one of his packages to rest the teen’s head on to allow for improved oxygen access.

“And I was like, just stay there, just stay there, we’re gonna call an ambulance, and I was telling everybody, ‘Somebody please call an ambulance,’” the UPS driver said.

The young man’s sugar was dropping, and Mr McCall was given a banana by another New Yorker to give to the teen. A young woman called an ambulance.

“I called 911,” Lindsay Patwich told the local CBS station. “It was amazing to see New Yorkers come together rather than just walk by… He was very heroic. He jumped in and handled it like it was his own kid.”

“He was a nice-looking young man,” Mr McCall added. “And that was just like, yeah, he could have been dead. There was no stopping. It just looked like they just didn’t have no remorse or regard for life. They would have finished him over some sneakers.”

The attacking teens, aged 16 and 17, were arrested by the NYPD the following day. Law enforcement says they’re facing charges including robbery and possession of stolen property.

Mr McCall said he’s not letting go of the kid just yet. “We’ll make him a UPS driver if he keeps moving forward,” he told CBS with a laugh.

NYPD Detective Annette Shelton told The Independent in a statement that the attack on the 17-year-old occurred on 7 May at 3.22pm when two individuals got off a bus “and chased him. The individuals struck and kicked the victim multiple times about his body, removed his sneakers and fled”.

“The victim was removed to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition,” Detective Shelton said and added that two teens were arrested at 6pm the next day.