The fiery accident that occurred on a warm Florida night on July 4, 2012 left an unconscious man trapped in his burning car. Seemingly out of nowhere, a figure emerged from the darkness through a layer of flames to open the door and lead the driver to safety moments before the car exploded. Like a scene from a movie, the Independence Day hero retreated into the shadows of darkness, but it wouldn’t be the last time he’d help someone in distress.

A modest man, Sabin Barto, doesn’t talk much about his 10+ years in the US Navy. He spends his post-military career selling Florida real estate, writing children’s books, developing a website dedicated to saving the Everglades habitat and getting kids involved in the environment. He seems like a pretty nice and normal guy, but his neighbors and friends claim he’s a real-life Captain America with the strength and courage of a superhero. Captain America, because his heroic deeds always seem to take effect on the 4th of July, or within a few hours.

On July 3, 2016, in Naples, Florida, Barto witnessed a car accident while driving home with his daughter after a fireworks celebration with some friends. As Sabin was getting out of his vehicle to help the driver and passengers, a lone policewoman who had been chasing them arrived on the scene. With the gun drawn, he yelled at the passenger who tried to flee to throw himself on the ground. Assuming it was a crime suspect, Barto saw the driver get out and run, to which he took action, grabbed the driver and kept him on the ground so the officer could properly handcuff him after stopping the passenger. Barto stayed with the officer until his endorsement arrived.

Like a superhero, Sabin Barto seems to have the ability to be in the right place at the right time. That incident with the car that exploded in 2012 took place right in front of his house.

All of this is reminiscent of the nature of extraordinary heroism, which is often expressed in emergency situations and difficult circumstances. While most of us back down and flee danger, some, like the men and women who make up local police departments across the country, plunge into the jaws of potential death to save a stranger. At a time when we are forced to remind people that Blue Lives Matter, it is comforting to know that American exceptionalism also finds a home in the muscles, hearts and minds of Americans like Sabin Barto.

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