A girl that was saved from a fire accident is reunited with her hero.
When it finally came time to graduate with Josi Aponte’s Bachelor’s Degree, she knew that there was one person that she needed to invite to the ceremony, and that person was retired detective Peter Getz.
When Aponte was five years old, she paid a visit to her uncle to his apartment building. A few moments later, the building was caught on fire. This tragic fire incident claimed the life of her cousin, and Aponte was lucky to only have suffered third-degree burns, thanks to her hero, Detective Peter Getz.
Now a retired detective, Getz said that Aponte made it out of the burning building but needed immediate medical attention. At the scene, he told his partner, Sgt. Donnie camp, that there was no time to wait for an ambulance, and the detective made the decision to rush the girl to the nearest hospital.
While Sgt. Camp drove the car, Getz performed CPR on Aponte.
“I’m told that if he would have just waited a few more seconds for the ambulance to come in, I could have died,” Aponte told NBC News at the graduation ceremony.
“There are only a few moments that are so important in life, and I wanted to share my graduation with everyone who’s important to me, who has been there for me, and who helped me through tough times.”
Aponte used social media to find and reconnect with Getz, she then invited the retired detective to attend her graduation ceremony.
“I did what I was trained to do, what I had to do,” Getz told the Hartford Courant. “I’m one cog in that wheel, from the dispatchers to the firefighters who risked their lives to go in and bring her out.”
“We all did what [we were] trained to do that day; it’s not just about me,” Getz added. “That’s how this process is supposed to work, that’s why we wear [the] uniforms we wear.”