Heroic Actions Save Life at Little League Park
By Office of Communication
Posted on June 07, 2012, June 07, 2012

Hazem Saleh is no medic, but when a young boy came yelling for one during a baseball game at Martin Luther King Jr. Sports Center, Saleh, as heroes often do, responded swiftly. What he found in the parking lot was an automobile wreck, one woman screaming and pointing inside a truck and another woman attempting to break the truck window with a folded lawn chair.

Inside the vehicle was a man having a seizure, the car still running, his foot on the accelerator. All Saleh could think of was getting him out. So he smashed the truck door window - with his bare fist, straight on. He was then handed a baseball bat, which he used to clear out the glass.

"I reached into the truck and unlocked the back door, climbed in and this is when I first saw (him)." said Saleh, an Arlington Southwest Little League board member who was at the fields helping out that day. "He was lying over the center console, unconscious. I put the truck in park, unlocked all the doors and removed the keys from the ignition."

By the time the man was removed, Arlington Police Officer Steve Williams, who was umpiring a game that day, arrived to help Saleh, who was so pumped about trying to keep the man alive he didn't realize he'd broken his left hand. An ambulance arrived shortly after that.

"Steve Williams said that his actions very likely saved this gentleman's life," Arlington Little League President Brett Smith said. "He's to be commended for that."

Saleh was indeed commended during the City Council Meeting on Tuesday with Mayor Robert Cluck recognizing him as "a true hero" shortly before handing him a City proclamation naming June 5, 2012, as "Hazem Saleh Day."

"We need to celebrate what he did and this proclamation tells him how much we appreciated this," said Cluck.

The man he helped certainly did.

He is thankful there are people like Hazem still in this world, who went above and beyond to help out.

Saleh received a standing ovation at the City Council Meeting.

"It's all surreal," said Saleh, who is married with two boys and works in Information Technology for Pier One Imports. "At the time, it didn't register as a life threatening situation. I just reacted. Afterwards, you start thinking about how bad it could have been. It was a parking lot with thousands of kids around. ClintThe man had a seizure and blacked out. Then you think of what could have been and we're all lucky that it was very minimal."

As for the City Proclamation, Saleh was, at first, a bit speechless.

"I never once wondered what it would feel like standing at a City Council Meeting with the mayor with my wife and kids and officials from the league in the audience," he said. "Now I'm thinking, man, that was really cool."

By Ken Perkins

Heroic Actions

Community, Headlines, News