Authorities in Eureka, California, are calling him a hero. But a Yucca Valley man expresses a kind of “aw shucks” modesty in describing how he helped police apprehend the suspect in a fatal hit-and-run. Reporter David Haldane has the story…
It’s something everyone wonders: If tragedy struck, would you do the right thing? For James Verner Jr. of Yucca Valley, the wondering is over; something horrible went down and he acted like a hero.
It happened last week in Northern California where Verner, 30, was on a business trip. He had just stopped at an intersection when, wham, a pick-up truck whizzed by, whacked a woman in the crosswalk and kept on moving.
Shirley Hoyt, 56, died later at a local hospital.
And Verner, without blinking an eye, took off after the truck, cornered it with his car, grabbed the man’s keys and called 911. Larry Nielsen, also 56, was arrested and booked on felony hit and run and vehicular manslaughter.
So how is it that an ordinary man could do something so extraordinary?
“I just felt like it was the right the thing to do. I’m not a hero. I felt I did what was right and I don’t feel you can be a hero for doing the right thing.”
YUCCA VALLEY MAN A RELUCTANT HERO IN EUREKA FATAL HIT AND RUN
