EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — It’s an inspiring story that proves everyday heroes walk among us. Quick thinking East Hartford barbers may have saved a life.
Since their inception, Main Street barber shops have been an institutional pillar of small town America and the barbers inside are the heartbeat of the community.
For weeks, what happened near the LookSharp Barbershop has been the buzz around town.
“It’s my community. As a barber, I came here to serve my community,” remarked barber Osvaldo Lugo.
Not all heroes wear capes. Instead, Osvaldo Lugo puts them on other people.
“I’m glad that there’s people here to watch after our community,” said client Joshua Crooms.
For Osvaldo, the word hero isn’t how he defines himself.
“The word hero for me is kind of too big to handle. I think what I did is what any dad would have done,” he said.
April 10 was a typical Wednesday at the LookSharp Barbershop in East Hartford until it wasn’t.
“I just didn’t think about it, and the next thing I knew I was running,” said Osvaldo.
Osvaldo and his colleague Rafael Santana saw a little girl out their shop window. She was alone and running toward the busy Main Street intersection.
Their actions were caught on camera. The two men sprinted out the door and down the sidewalk to catch up to her as she barreled toward potential tragedy.
“As soon as I picked her up she was just saying mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy.”
Osvaldo eventually found the little girl’s mother at a bus stop around the corner where she lost track of her for just a second. The two shared an emotional parent-to-parent connection.
“The mom did say 'thank you,'” said Osvaldo. “It was also a moment of silence but it was a beautiful silence because the way that she looked at me; I could tell that she was thankful and embarrassed at the same time.”
For Osvaldo, it was a moment of personal redemption. He spent years behind bars and was absent from the lives of his three little girls.
“I never had the opportunity to be there for my kids. I just went into dad mode.”
“Thank God he was there and paying attention. Because I could only imagine if that was my little girl. I would have lost it,” added Crooms.
Osvaldo and Raphael’s actions caught the attention of East Hartford police, who said, “Thanks to them…a family remains whole.”
Thankfully, we’ll never know what may have happened if Osvaldo and Raphael weren’t doing their jobs.
“I had clients in my chair, so in the back of my head I was like, get back to work!”
Prior to rescuing the little girl, Osvaldo was a finalist for our FOX61 Impact Awards last November as an unsung hero for his work in the community with formerly incarcerated individuals.
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Matt Caron is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at mcaron@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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